


Bait For The Reaper

by CardboarianNights



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Cat and Mouse Games, M/M, Reaper ain't gonna hurt jack in any way he doesn't want to, Romance, Smut, Space AU, Space Cop!Jack, Tentacles, Two Penises, actually it's plural?, also reaper is a hybrid quadraped in this fic, but can stand on two legs with no real issue, but there's an actual reason jack allows it, flirting idiots, i'm just dating you so we can abush you, it's all consentual, just taggin' fer the squick, mpreg in later chapters, nice surprises, oviposition in later chapters, penis rubbing, reaper was like 'i'm up for it', space monster!Gabriel, that monster tag is legit guys, weird alien biology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-10-28 20:46:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 63,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10839135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CardboarianNights/pseuds/CardboarianNights
Summary: ‘Keep the Reaper in the present solar system at any cost.’Jack hated his orders as the unkillable nanite monster himself carefully climb onto the bed over him. Reaper was a seven foot jet black quadruped with a bone white mask resting on his face and a maw with way too many teeth under it. He was like a bear with how much he towered over Jack, the bed frame groaning from their combined weight as Reaper’s claws pressed down on either side of Jack’s head.For a humanoid that held the highest bounty in several galaxies, he was surprisingly easy to track down if you challenged him to a drinking contest with shots. Even funnier was Reaper showing up and actually taking him up on it.





	1. First Date

‘Keep the Reaper in the present solar system at any cost.’

Jack hated his orders as the unkillable nanite monster himself carefully climb onto the bed over him. Reaper was a seven foot jet black quadruped with a bone white mask resting on his face and a maw with way too many teeth under it. He was like a bear with how much he towered over Jack, the bed frame groaning from their combined weight as Reaper’s claws pressed down on either side of Jack’s head.

For a humanoid that held the highest bounty in several galaxies, he was surprisingly easy to track down if you challenged him to a drinking contest with shots. Even funnier was Reaper showing up and actually taking him up on it.

“Why are you so big?” Jack slurred as he brought his hands up lightly pull at the firm skin under that imposing jaw of his, liquid courage doing its usual thing to him while Reaper just let patiently let him pull at it. If he doesn't die tonight then he’ll certainly be regretting this night in the morning in many different ways than just a hangover from Hell.

“Is being big a problem?” Reaper asked, his voice low and gravely as Jack continued to play with his face below the mask. He lightly laid down over Jack, resting most of his weight on his own knees and his forearms. Reaper was practically purring, a sound Jack found to be rather relaxing, especially with the humanoid being so relaxed above him.

“Is your penis big too?” Jack asked bluntly, making Reaper jerk his head back slightly at that.

“Okay, those Salvarian shots were definitely a bad idea if mister space cop is trying to ask me those kinds of questions.” Reaper replied, the purring ceasing the moment Jack’s hands started exploring his mask. He pried each curious human hand off his mask delicately with his claws and moved them to his shoulders to let the bone there entertain the drunk human below him. “Going to draw the line at you groping above my chin, Mister Touchy-Feely.” Reaper teased.

Jack frowned at the denial but found the unique dips and curves of Reaper’s shoulder armor to be interesting to feel. It was course but surprisingly smooth where he thought there to be edges and wondered if it was part of his biology or not. He enjoyed running his thumbs over them and found himself leaning upwards to try to reach over Reaper’s massive shoulders to see if they felt different on the back. Reaper tense up from how close their faces were but Jack was more interested in seeing if his armor was consistent in the back like it was in the front.

“I’m not ‘touchy-feely’, I like what you’re wearing.” Jack huffed haughtily. “Is this real?” He asked curiously right after in a dramatic mood switch from annoyed to curious.

“I’m not ‘wearing’ anything. It’s all me, Space Cowboy.” Reaper answered, leaning forward to give Jack easier access to his back and brush the side of his face against Jack’s cheek. 

Jack tensed from the contact and quickly dragged himself out from under Reaper, his back colliding with the headboard as he quickly patted himself over. His space suit was still on, there were no cuts or any foreign fluids on him. Reaper chuckled lightly at the reaction, apparently finding it amusing as Jack glared back at him.

“Relax. I don't put out on the first date.” Reaper joked easily as he sat up, giving Jack the space he clearly wanted while looking as non threatening as possible (if it even was possible).

Jack wasn't easily convinced and wished he had his sidearm on him now more than ever. “Who the hell says that this is a ‘date’?”

Reaper shrugged his shoulders casually at that. “The Hetantan in front of you who always has to buy his dates maybe?" He spoke, referring to his own race. "But, I’m pretty sure that having your comrades remote inject terrifying drugs into your own body to make your mind think it's suddenly not drunk does make this whole thing a bit of a stretch on the term.” He added. “I don't think the side effects when it wears off is going to be fun and games for you.”

Jack gritted his teeth at that. “It’s none of your goddamn business!”

“You're right but I just find it strange that they would forcibly sober you up and think that you having your wits about you would be enough to keep me from killing you if I wanted to.” Reaper remarked, still as relaxed as before. “I was kind of curious to see what desperate plan would require a grouchy beat cop to send out a public offer of a drinking contest to me. Though, honestly, a hotel ambush isn't going to be your best plan to arrest or kill me.” He offered as he got up and stepped off the bed, smoke whirling around him.

“Wait!” Jack got up from the bed in a panic. He had to keep Reaper in the galaxy somehow even when the monster correctly predicted the raid happening as the door was forcibly hacked open and the window was smashed into as elites from all over the galaxy scrambled to restrain Reaper. 

“You know how to get my attention for another date. Bye, Space Cowboy.” Reaper teased as he ported away before the suppression rounds could hit him, leaving Jack and the SWAT team empty handed with glass scattered all over the room.

“Ya’ll right, Jack?” Jesse McCree, the SWAT leader who came in through the window, asked as he came over to Jack’s side, pushing up his face shield to make sure Jack was alright.

“I’m fine, Captain.” Jack sighed in relief at the monster being gone before grimly frowning at his failure. “Looks like I fucked up pretty hard.” He admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Nah.” Jack’s commanding officer hand waved before patting Jack on the back. “Yer lettin’ the old beat rules get t’ya. Yer mission was to keep the cat interested in playin’ with the mice in one part of the house rather than the whole thing, ya get me?”Jack frowned at that but nodded his head anyways. McCree stared at the older man before putting his arm over Jack’s shoulder to bring him in close. “You’re only thirty-seven and two years older than me, but, you don’t get what we’re really tryin’ to do here, do ya? Getting Reaper on the first run would have been a damned miracle, Morrison an’ I ain’t gonna punish ya fer lettin’ him port away. You gettin’ him to the hotel was a miracle enough, especially considerin’ he knew ya’ll were a cop this whole time.” He explained as he walked with Jack out of the hotel room, the local police ordering occupants to stay in their rooms while clean up was in progress. “Reaper is willin’ to play ball with us, if we can trust he was tellin’ the truth on the mic we put on ya.”

The other SWAT team members were leaving the scene of the hotel with them, piling into the vans in the street while a crowd of gawkers hung around outside of the police line. Jack could see several news trucks in the background along with news helicopters overhead. This colony probably wasn’t used to excitement, especially in this part of town. Jack sat next to Jesse in the van as four others got in with them before the door was shut and the vehicle took off.

Jesse raised his hand to the commlink hooked on his ear and tapped on the call button. “Hey, Shimada? How’re the galaxy gates lookin’? Any weird numbers access the high speed transport lanes lately?” He asked casually as he hooked one leg over the other to try to relax on the bench, regardless of how cramped the quarters were.

“Negative, Captain.” Jack heard an accented voice over his own comm unit when Lorens passed Jack’s back over to him and he hooked it back on his ear. “We’ve been monitoring this galaxy’s gates since the mission started and all the numbers and ship models are checked out. The Death Blossom has not used the gate since it came into the Eurcades Solar System four hours ago.”

“How bout transports leavin’ the area? He could have put the Blossom into one of them and paid off the driver.”

“All transports are being pulled aside for inspection before giving Gate access, Captain. Unless he’s going the slow route of just flying manually to the next galaxy, he’s probably still in the solar system.” Shimada informed him promptly.

“Thanks, Hans. Get me posted if anything happens.” Jesse drawled, making the man on the other line sigh heavily.

“Roger. Over and out.”

Jesse took his hand off the call button and looked back over at Jack, the usual mission chatter taking over the line as the captain dialed down the volume a bit. It was going to be a twenty minute drive back to the nearest precinct where they were temporarily stationed at in the Routers Colony and the morale was quite low in the vehicle, even with the captain calling it a ‘tactical victory’ for now. Jack wanted to say something to reassure his teammates in the van with him, it was what he used to do as beat cop before being pulled into the universe-wide Reaper hunt but someone else beat him to it.

“So…” Lorens leaned forward as she pushed up her face shield to look at Jack under the red light illuminating the van in the darkness. “What was it like? Drinking with Reaper?”

The others were interested as well as they all glanced over at Jack.

“The Crypt is one of the most intimidating bars in this solar system and yet you just walked in there to drink with a colony killer!” She stated.

“Hey, Lorens, you’ve been in worse places than some damn boogey man’s pub, so, why ya shakin’ in yer gear over this?” Tal’ma, a space gorgon, demanded as he kept his modified eye shield down to keep from petrifying everyone in the van.

Lorens glared at the gorgon, making HIM glance away from the terrifying and tiny human female. “Any place that Reaper goes is far more dangerous, Shitcan, and you know that! Unlike us, Jack was brought on simply because he’s a damn good cop and managed to do the impossible by luring in the Reaper!” She jabbed a finger accusingly at the gorgon.

Jesse got a good chuckle at that while Jack cleared his throat to ease the tension before it could get out of hand. “It probably helps that I somewhat fit the general profile of what Reaper has dated in the past. I WAS recruited originally because of my looks.” Jack reminded them. “I’m just trying to help you guys out the best I can.”

“And ya’ll did a damn fine job fer a guy who patrolled rich colonies his whole career.” Jesse remarked as he playfully elbowed Jack in the side, earning a sheepish smile from the blonde. “Yer sense of justice is on a whole different tier if none of the other blonde cops around the universe wanted ta pitch in one fer organics and others.”

“Unless he knew someone on the Horizon Colony that got killed.” Tal’ma contributed. “Did you know anyone there, Jack?” He asked curiously.

Jack shook his head. “No. I just want a mass murder of the streets and figured I could do some good.” He then shuddered as he felt his head start to ache. “I think I might need a day off or something though. It was quite a lot to handle on top of the drugs you pumped into me.”

Jesse chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. “About that… We’re actually gonna be droppin’ ya off at the hospital first…”

Jack looked over at McCree as the look of horror grew on his face. “... That drug WAS verified for human use, right?”

Jesse looked away as the rest of the squad visibly cringed at that revelation.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - Jack was injected with a drug by his captain that wasn’t fucking tested on humans yet!

“H-Holy fuck, Boss!” Lorens scooted away from Jesse in disgust at what he had done while Ger’un, a space minotaur and their medic, quickly got up and shoved past everyone’s legs as he got to Jack at the front of the group. The swat team members on the right side of the van packed themselves towards the door, one moving to sit on the floor so Ger’un could lay out his medical pack on an open seat behind him and give himself room in the aisle to kneel down, regardless of his huge bulk. 

Jesse put up his hands to try to placate his outraged swat team by putting his hands up. “H-hold on a minute! Just a second before ya’ll shove me out the van!” He pleaded to his squadron. “The brass forced the drug on me and said that the hospital would be ready to deal with the side effects that showed up in the clinical trials that are still on-goin’! They wanted Jack t’have a fightin’ chance ta get away from Reaper if he tried to drug or get him hammered out of his mind! It was either hook the line up on Jack or I get taken off the mission fer someone else ta do the same thing in my place. They couldn’t risk Reaper killin’, or worse, a voluntary officer that was beloved by a powerful colony!”

Jack was horrified by the logic of his superiors: That it would look better if Jack died sober against Reaper, even if that meant him being aware of what the monster was doing to him the whole time before he was killed. He wouldn’t be able to overpower or out maneuver Reaper, he wasn’t trained to do hand-to-hand combat with monsters like that! Jack could certainly TRY but that wouldn’t change the final outcome if the swat team didn’t move in before he died.

“Morrison. Morrison!” Ger’un’s voice drew Jack back into the present as he realized the medic had set up an IV line and saline bag on the wall next to him by using a suction cup to hold the bag up. The minotaur had his hands on Jack’s cheeks as Jack realized he was shivering uncontrollably and was practically in Jesse’s lap as his captain tried to let him lay back against him. “Just five minutes until we get to the hospital. Stay with me alright?” 

Jack’s teeth were chattered now as he nodded his head.

‘I don't think the side effects, when it wears off, is going to be fun and games for you.’ 

He didn’t want to think about Reaper’s words now or how he even knew that he was injected with the drug at all minus what had to seem like a sudden sobriety to the monster. He was going to get taken care of at the hospital - a hospital that had all the knowledge it needed to save his life and help him make a smooth recovery. He just needed to stay calm and awake as to not inconvenience the rest of his squadron.

Just stay calm and prepare for the next mission.

\--

Apparently being put into a medically induced coma for a week was part of the deal to help him recover from the symptoms. 

Jack was in a daze as he sat up in the hospital bed a few hours after he woke up the previous time, and was informed of what happened to him after he arrived at the hospital. Jesse’s confession and Ger’un’s quick thinking helped reduce how bad the swelling in his brain could have gotten along with the number of heart attacks he might have had to suffer through after he was brought into the ER. Jesse was furious with his superiors and promised to give them a piece of his mind about the whole incident while other members of the swat team came in small batches to wish him well.

He would only be given two more days to recover in the hospital before he would be brought back on to try to court Reaper again.

Apparently another swat unit in the solar system tried the same thing to bring Reaper into a trap since the reward money would go to group that gets him first. Needless to say that Reaper wasn’t interested in the bait with the lovely flowers that were sent anonymously every day to the hospital. There was never a card attached nor would any local flower shop claim that it was their place that made the orders and delivered them. The delivery guy was always random and none of them claimed to ever coming into contact with Reaper, directly, for them to be sure it was a gift from the Hetantan himself.

Jack looked at the flowers in the vase and thought about how ridiculously random the chosen flora was. There wasn’t even any Earth flowers in the bouquet, just run-of-the-mill mishmash of wildflowers, tree branches, and such. Yes, you can buy bouquets like this in this solar system but it was considered to be very low brow and tacky to send these as a ‘get well’ gift to anyone in a hospital. He found himself kind of amused by that ‘slap in the face’ cheap bouquet as he leaned over and smelled them - it was very subdued, but the fragrance reminded him of the planet he grew up on. That smell of running through meadows as a child and the trees he used to climb to get to his treehouse he helped build with his sister and mother.

Two days, huh?

Well, he wasn’t one for sitting around on his ass anyways. It was why he was a beat cop and never settled for an office job back at the precinct and why he took up the offer of being the bait for this man hunt.

It would be rude to not take Reaper up on a second date if he was all game for it.


	2. Second Date

Jack wore a random, black rock band t-shirt and jeans with boots as he sat at the counter of the ‘Live and Die’ bar on the planet ‘Nimbus’. The location was your usual rough part of the city filled with badass wanna-be’s and the real deal mixing together. The news from the Router Colony about the raid was still the talk of the town here, especially with the rumors that Reaper was involved making everyone question why the colony killer was around at all in their corner of the universe. The two surgical scars on Jack’s face, along with his fading blonde locks, certainly helped made him fade into the crowd easier this time, meaning that it wasn’t all that bad the drug was continuing to fuck him up like it was. At least he was in a coma when his skin was melting off his face…

The place was loud, filled with smoke, and probably violating capacity regulations with how packed the place was. Jack just fiddled away on a phone app while slowly nursing a gin and tonic, waiting to see if Reaper would even show up. There were a few smaller hetantans that came in and out of the bar, making Jack realize that Reaper might be an outlier from how huge he was due to whatever the nanites had done to his body.

Jack glanced over at the door when it opened, and then back down at his phone for a moment to check the time as the mask-wearing hetantan, himself, came in like the confident, quadrupedal asshole he was. Red eyes met dilute blue ones as Reaper walked on all fours until he was at the bar counter, easily standing up on two legs when he moved to sit down next to Jack. Arms that were twice the muscular bulk of Jack’s rested casually on the counter as the bartender came over to get his order, apparently oblivious of the hetantan being the infamous Reaper or honestly not giving a damn, Jack couldn't tell which. Reaper was at least a head taller than Jack, even when sitting beside each other but Jack wasn't really intimidated this time and more curious than anything.

“Galdor Tyun.” Reaper ordered with his deep gravely voice, the bartender nodding his head before walking off to start making the rather light alcoholic beverage. He then turned to acknowledge Jack’s presences with an amused smirk. “You are Jack Morrison, correct? Not many graying blonde humans around these parts but I have been wrong before.”

Jack returned the grin as he lifted his glass to his lips to take a sip of his drink. “‘Jack Morrison’? I heard he was a pretty face with a whole head of vibrant blonde hair and didn’t look like he got dropped into a bucket of acid. You must have the wrong guy.” He casually joked as he shrugged his shoulders.

Reaper chuckled lightly at the joke but it sounded rather strained to Jack. “To be fair, that’s not exactly inaccurate to describe what he was injected with. I heard it put him in the hospital for a week or so and jumped right back on his feet rather than ending up in a coffin.” 

Jack took a longer drink than his previous one at that remark before gently setting the glass down on the counter. “I heard some sap sent him flowers.”

“Oh?” Reaper was more interested in taking his drink from the bartender than making eye contact with Jack while they talked.

“Yeah, the really shitty kind that would get anyone chased out of the hospital and deleted from several people’s contact lists. Good thing they were anonymously bought and delivered, huh?” Jack found himself suppressing a snicker since it was in character for the situation, even if he was wrong about Reaper being the sender - he would at least find the story amusing in that case.

Reaper took a long drink out of his whipcream topped off drink before brushing away the white mustache above his lip then licked the excess off the back of his hand and setting the tall glass down. “Sounds like a sack of shit who doesn't know jack about hospital gifts and probably isn't human enough to know what flowers are acceptable to send to them.” He shrugged his shoulders dismissively, not letting on enough for Jack to know if the statement was true, to some extent, about his experience or just his honest observation of the person who sent him the flowers if he didn't send them. 

Jack just picked up his glass and took another drink before looking at that oddly sweet-implying concoction Reaper had bought. “That any good?” He asked as he set his glass down.

Reaper looked at Jack for a moment before waving the bartender back over with his claw. “The ‘Glador Tyun’, is it safe for human consumption?” 

The bartender shrugged his shoulders at that. “We don't get human customers often enough for me to know what brands will kill them. They just order what they want and leave.”

Jack bristled at that as he felt a shiver run down his spine at the humanoid bartender lack of concern of what he served his customers. Reaper just rolled his eyes at that under his mask and leaned forward towards the bartender. “Get me the exact bottles you used to make the drink, including the cream canister.”

The bartender balked at that as he glanced at the other customers waiting for their orders to be filled. “When I have a moment, I will do so, Sir.” He apologized before slipping away to resume taking and mixing orders at the busy bar.

Reaper huffed in annoyance at that before looking back over at Jack. “Probably not a good idea to let you try a bit with how shady this place is anyways. Unauthorized knock offs are a big problem in these dumps, now that I think about it.” He remarked before picking up his drink and taking a long sip before swirling it around in his mouth then swallowing. “Definitely off brand. Maybe some other time I’ll get you one.” 

Jack could help but let out an ugly snort at that as he tried to suppress his laughter behind his hand. The hetantan seemed a bit stunned at the reaction, not expecting Jack to find it hilarious and quite frankly, neither did Jack. There was just something so amusing about a colony killer, like Reaper, actually being worried about a drink killing him when all he asked was if it was good or not. Reaper actually wanted to let him take a taste from his drink.

Reaper quickly shook it off as he huffed at Jack and looked critically at the drink he had in front of himself. “Your drink sure looks adventurous, what is it, root beer?” 

Jack smirked in amusement at the insult. “Coming from a guy who let me drink a body shot off him, you certainly like talking shit.”

“Someone has to make you regret hanging out in the bad part of town in a crowded and dirty bar.” Reaper casually sniped back as he took another drink from his glass.

Jack had to snort at that. “Which ones of us is the beat cop now?”

Reaper was the one grinning behind his glass now. “Oh? I get to be on the right side of the law now?”

Jack rolled his eyes and lightly elbowed Reaper, drawing a chuckle from the humanoid. He kind of like this between them, it was no different than two weeks ago when they did shots together, just having fun once the booze started working its magic on Jack to get him to relax. It was like they were the only ones in the bar regardless of it being packed to the brim with criminals and they were both only on the first drink as well.

“I think you’ll fail the background check but I'm not too sure with some of the jackasses I worked with back at my precinct.” 

That got Reaper to laugh and Jack found himself smiling with him.

“You’re a real shitbag, Morrison.” Reaper jested and Jack just shrugged his shoulders lightly as he finished his drink.

“Would it be shitty if I asked for another body shot?” Jack teased, flat out laughing when Reaper seemed like he was considering it for a second as he scratched at his chin with a claw before looking down at the counter skeptically.

“Yeah, I’m not risking my back by laying on that. Take a rain check, Morrison.” 

Jack quirked a brow at that statement before waving the bartender back over to order another gin and tonic. When the bartender walked away, Jack looked back over at Reaper with a coy smile on his lips ready to make another flirtatious pass at the hetantan. The moment was quickly ruined though when a group circled them with weapons and electrified rope at the ready. Jack didn't have a side arm on him and slowly pulled the empty glass he drank from earlier towards him as a rifle was pushed against Reaper’s back to get his attention.

“You got a lot of nerve showing up here, Reaper,” Growled the hetantan female that Jack had seen leave the bar earlier. She must have spotted Reaper coming into the bar after she left and rounded up her gang to try to get their piece of the bounty. “There’s galactic police and bounty hunters all over our solar system. What makes you think you can just stop and have a drink in one of our pubs, Shit Head?”

The bartender was probably hiding under the counter because there certainly wasn't anyone from the establishment dumb enough to try to kick out a heavily armed gang, especially if an infamous colony killer was at the counter.

Reaper finished calmly drinking back the rest of his drink then set it down before swiping a credit chip over the tab reader in front of Jack and Gabe on the counter. He tucked the chip back away wherever he hid it before then casually turned to Jack with a fond smile. “I’ll contact you next time. Sorry to cut this short.” 

Jack shrugged his shoulders at that. “Do what you need to. I’m off the clock.” 

Reaper grinned in amusement at Jack’s sassy comeback before stepping off the bar stool, the group taking a cautious step backwards as they kept their weapons at the ready. He held up his hands as he looked at the female that spoke to him earlier as she kept her rifle trained in him. “Alright. I’ll come with you quietly.” 

The female motioned for the bird-like alien to cuff Reaper, not taking her eye off him for a moment. The cuffs went on with a click and Jack watched as Reaper was led out of the pub, knowing very well what was going to happen once they were outside and a few feet away from the entrance. Gunshots and chaos broke outside while Jack folded his arms on the bar counter after pulling his phone back out to resume playing his game from earlier. Everyone was rushing over to the windows to watch the spectacle but Jack just stayed where he was, it would mean less questioning by the local police, assuming they show up in the next ten minutes or so. He hoped they wouldn't so he could just leave after Reaper escaped and rejoin the rest of his team since they were probably aware of what was going on if bug on Jack was still working properly.

Once the screaming and gunshots ceased, Jack waited another five minutes before getting up and going out the fire exit in the back of the pub since anyone with a brain and a warrant on their head would have hightailed it out of there the minute guns went off. Crisp, cold air hit his face along with the strong stench of urine as he pulled up his T-shirt up to cover his nose and rushed out of the alley unless he wanted the scent to cling to himself for a week from how thick it was. The sound of sirens in the distance signaled the police’s inevitable arrival and Jack darted off across the dead street to head to the extraction spot after hitting the silent alarm device in his jeans pocket to cement the fact that the date was off to the rest of his team.

Jesse was there to meet Jack at the extraction point, sitting in an alleyway in an unmarked police vehicle with an annoyed look on his face as he listened in on the local police chatter on his scanner. Jack opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat before closing it, buckling in as Jesse started up the hover engine. Jesse put the car into reverse as he slowly back out of the alleyway since there was no real rush and smoothly turned onto the barren street before taking off.

“This is fuckin’ stupid.” Jesse grumbled as he turned off the police scanner and switched on the radio for a classic Earth rock station. “Not even fifteen minutes into the date before assholes show up completely unprepared to try to an’ get their share of the bounty.” He sighs in frustration. “Reaper has been at large fer fuckin’ decades an’ has ridiculous bounty on his head! They think they can just walk in and suppress him with conventional arms an’ electric rope?! Even the damn Horizon colony was on record to be shooting tank shells at the guy before he wiped the colony clean off the map!” Jesse waved his hand in a sweeping gesture to convey the ‘wiping’ of the colony.

“That’s kind of why some folks theorize it wasn’t completely Reaper’s fault when the colony got wiped, Captain. Firing tank shells and all this other military-grade stuff to take down one guy would have made it easy to rupture an oxygen line or something.” 

Jesse sighed again as he put the car into auto-pilot mode the moment they got on the highway, letting the GPS take them back to the precinct they were holding up at on this planet. “Careful where you say that, Morrison. There’s plenty of reasons no one likes to talk about those theories and it would be a fuckin’ mess tryin’ to find someone else to keep Reaper interested in a cat an’ mouse game with our swat unit if some politician hears an’ thinks you’re a sympathizer or somethin’.” 

Jack rolled his eyes at that. “Even if he didn’t directly cause the life support systems of the colony to go offline, he still killed a lot of people during his time on the run. He has crimes he has to be punished for and I’m not going to be sympathetic one bit when we eventually get him.”

“Good. I knew I could count on ya to see reason outside of the whole Horizon debate. Some officers ain’t good at lookin’ at the bigger picture.” Jesse drawled before rolling down the window and lighting a cigar. “Anyways, looks like Reaper volunteered to pick’ the next date location. Gonna have to do some last minute leg work tryin' to get a plan worked out around this mess now that the ball is in his court.”

Jack frowned as he looked over at McCree. “You think it’s okay to just let him pick the spots?”

Jesse took a slow drag of the cigar and exhaled a plume of smoke out the window. “Gonna have to but we can always pick the after-date hotel or, what have ya, to ambush him proper. Just gonna need some undercover operatives onsite to keep an eye on ya two this time in case he’s up to no good.”

Jack didn’t feel too reassured there as he rested back against the seat’s head rest. “You think he’ll try something underhanded?”

“Best way to keep yerself safe is by always thinkin’ he’ll backstab ya. Of course you’ll have to convince him that yer still interested in pursuin' him as well or at least flirt back like the way ya have been doin’. I’m the only one listenin’ in on yer date anyways so say what ya need ta without fear alright?” McCree reassuringly patted Jack on the shoulder with a knowing wink in his direction. Jack felt his cheeks warm up under the encouragement from his superior officer.

“I’m guessing you…”

“Heard about the body shot offer? Yep.” Jesse chuckled in amusement. “You CAN have sex with the guy if you think it will benefit us in someway by keepin’ him distracted. Just want to put that out there now so you know what is and isn’t on the table fer this mission since yer the bait and it might come up sooner than later.”

Now Jack’s face was a bright red as he turned his gaze to the window to focus on something other than McCree. “I don’t exactly know much about hetantan physiology though.”

“Easy. Two penises and their sperm can cause eggs to form in their mate’s body. Only the bottom penis releases the proteins necessary for eggs to be formed.” McCree spouted off easily like they weren’t talking about the genitalia of Jack’s date. “I still suggest you refrain from sex if he doesn’t wrap them both up but that’s basic STD/Pregnancy prevention.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Jack held his hands up. “ Let’s back up here a moment. ‘Pregnancy prevention’?”

“Yep.” McCree emphasised on the ‘p’ as he reclined back into his seat to take another drag. “Hetantan females have suitable wombs for a more comfortable pregnancy, allowing the eggs to grow to the proper size when they can finally be laid, but, idealistically, anybody can be the egg carrier.”

“How do you know this much about hetantan reproduction, Captain…?” Jack asked skeptically.

“Ya think I’m just gonna send someone in blind without knowing details about our target in general and the ‘what ifs’ should somethin’ sexually violent happen to said someone if we couldn't stop the escalation early on?” Jesse looked at Jack in a serious manner as he placed a free hand on Jack’s shoulder when he tensed up at the implication. “Havin’ all the knowledge is one thing but lettin’ somethin’ like that happen to ya? I’d rather give up the date bait approach than let somethin’ traumatic happen to ya, alright? Trust me to never let the worst case happen to ya as long as I'm in charge.” He spoke as he gave Jack’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze that spoke a great deal about how serious he was about his officer's safety.

“Thanks, I guess.” Jack sighed. “Guess I need to study a bit before the next date then.”

Jesse nodded his head in agreement. “Might be a good idea if yer thinkin’ of hookin’ up with him. Let me know if ya need any help with formulatin’ ideas like usual, alright?”

“Will do, Captain.” Jack replied as he looked down warily at the burner phone he took out of his pocket, no new text messages from Reaper, like he expected.

\--

It would be two weeks until Reaper contacted Jack again, this time through an actual call instead of a text while Jack was relaxing at work. He was sitting in the swat team’s patrol cruiser, at his desk, setting aside his tablet that had an adventure novel open in it.

“Hello?” Jack asked as he felt his heart hammering in his chest from nerves. He was honestly getting worried that Reaper had found someone else to play around with, as strange as that was. Then again, he had invested a lot of time into this cat and mouse game to be disappointed if Reaper got bored with him so early.

“Oh, good. You haven’t ditched the phone yet.” Reaper chuckled lightly, making Jack smile as he reclined in his chair and ran a hand through his hair.

“Why would I get rid of the only thing that lets us communicate with each other, Reaper?” Jack asked in amusement. “Would be a shame to throw away my chance for a couple billion credits.”

Reaper laughed at the joke, helping to ease the anxiety Jack had when initially answering the phone call along with the two week long delay. “I’d imagine you would enjoy settling down with your cut of the bounty. Maybe buy a nice house in that neighborhood you patrol in?”

Jack sighed incredulously as he propped his feet up on the edge of his desk. “Nah. I’d probably buy my own cruiser and just tour the universe. Maybe go to Earth and get a genuine cat and/or a dog from one of their shelters since I would be able to afford a trip to the Milky Way Galaxy for once in my life.” He found himself admitting easily to Reaper.

“Earth, huh? Mars is a pretty nice place to park your cruiser and take a cheap shuttle down to Earth. It’s ridiculously expensive to get a lot spot on Earth, especially on one of their nicer continents.” Reaper remarked casually.

Jack quirked a brow at that and found himself looking over at the old fashion Milky Way Galaxy calender he had hung up on the wall next to his desk. “You’ve been there before, Reaper?”

“Mhm. Lots of salty oceans cover the planet but it also has huge fresh water lakes that are nice to swim in during the summer time, depending on where you go, of course. It’s a beautiful place to visit and there’s always something unique to see since it’s a poly-cultural planet.” Reaper remarked as he fondly recalled the planet. “Went to a place called ‘Russia’ and the architecture was similar to the Loraun’s in the Trinity Galaxy. Lots of spiral tops and stone buildings. Locals who gave no fucks but had really good liquor and food. I would like to go back there sometime, to be honest.”

Jack was jealous of Reaper’s experience. The Milky Way Galaxy was so far away from the one he lived in that it costs an arm and a leg just to fly halfway to get there. He remembered the stories his parents would tell him of humanity’s home planet and how every human he met longed to afford a pilgrimage to Earth once in their lifetime. “Maybe, someday, I’ll get there. Mind letting me walk you to the nearest police station?” He chuckled.

“Sure, but, the bounty won’t be distributed if I slip through the bars, Morrison.” Reaper shot back lightly.

“Always have to make things complicated, don’t you, Reaper.” Jack spoke sarcastically as he felt himself smile at the hetantan’s chuckle on the other end.

“I enjoy our game, Jackie, it's why I keep coming back for more.” Reaper practically purred, making Jack’s cheeks heat up a bit under how suggestive it sounded coming from him.

“Well, then, as fond as I am of chatting with you, I think we should give my boss the info he wants if you’re going to insist on long-distance calling me, Reaper.”

“Right. I just wanted to hear your voice, is all. I’ll send you the information in a text message. See you later, Jack.” Reaper spoke.

“Alright, see you, Reaper.” Jack managed to say without sounding as flustered as he felt at that confession by the hetantan before hanging up. His face was red as he gently set the phone down on his desk before burying it into his hands and groaning. Jack’s phone vibrated a few moments later, likely Reaper sending him the information like he promised, but Jack had to pull his hands away as the phone vibrated a few times in a row. Multiple texts from Reaper?

Jack looked at the phone as he typed in the information into his computer terminal. Apparently, they would be moving one solar system over since Jack didn’t recognize the planet name but a quick search pulled up the Eduan system next door. The address was to a beach resort? Jack felt himself smirk in amusement as he read the next few messages.

‘I know you like dirty bars and dangerous company but how ‘bout we try some place a bit nicer?’

‘We have dinner reservations at the resort restaurant but will have full beach access in the meantime.’

‘Bring a suit; one for the table and the other for the water.’

‘I’ll be hitting the beach around one in the afternoon. Tell your boss to hold off until we at least had dinner, Jackie.’

‘See you in a week.’

Jack found himself smiling as he brought up the official website of the resort, admiring how luxurious it seemed from the pictures with its sprawling private beach and how fancy the restaurant sample menu was. It was the complete opposite of the bars Jack had Reaper meet up with him at since he assumed that the hetantan would want to lay low in a den of criminals instead of risk being recognized. Not that it helped them at the last meetup… It still had Jack wondering how Reaper could even afford to pay for all of this legally and how the colony killer planned on disguising himself in such a glitzy location. 

Just what was Reaper planning now?

Jack smiled as he pushed himself up from his chair and pocketed his phone, heading over to McCree’s office so he could tell him the news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy that you're all stoked for this fic and left all sorts of nice feedback on the first chapter! There won't be eggies for a few chapters but this will be a short ficlet though so don't expect too many chapters to wait for that, if you're into that kink, that is!
> 
> As usual, please leave feedback on if you liked this chapter or not!


	3. Date Three Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> today we find out how Reaper gets around the universe so easily, two dorks crush harder on the other, and we talk about eggs!

“So, our favorite colony killer decided to stop beatin’ ‘round the bush with ya and only after one real meetin’, huh?” McCree drawled as Jack sat down in the chair he pulled around the desk so he and McCree were side by side, looking over data and algorithms that popped up on the many holoscreens that were being projected.

While it would be unheard of for anyone to cram themselves in beside their boss at their desk in any other job, McCree’s ‘give no fucks’ attitude and casual disregard for the workplace hierarchy in his own cruiser made shit a lot easier to get done. Yeah, he understood the importance of having some of the usual rules in place to keep things orderly but understood that bureaucracy could easily get in the way if his subordinates were too intimidated by his rank to tell him their ideas. Plus, he doesn’t have to do anything to project the data to Jack on the other side of the desk if he was right next to him, right?

“Technically, it was two bar meetups.” Jack added, watching as McCree tapped away on the holo keyboard that was being projected over the man’s lap while he had his feet propped up lazily on the desk. 

“Yeah, but yer second meetin’ was cut incredibly short.” McCree corrected as he pulled up a few new windows featuring the planet and the resort Reaper wanted to meet up at. “Awfully sweet o’ him to want to take ya to this kind of a place.” He whistled fondly as another window played live video feed of the beach. “Damn. This whole planet is just a rich person’s weekend getaway.”

“We talking the ‘legal’ kind of getaway…?” Jack asked curiously.

“How law-abiding can a resort be if it’s willingly taking money from a wanted criminal as infamous as Reaper?” Jesse asked in return, both of them shrugging at what should seem like an obvious answer. “Make me wonder, if they ain’t willingly accepting a bribe, if Reaper is doin’ somethin’ to throw em off.” He remarks as he scratched idly at his beard. “No way this kind of place didn’t run a credit and background check on ‘im…”

Jack had to agree that it was weird that Reaper was even able to part his ship near the planet, much less get them both set up in a fancy resort. “Guess we’ll have to alert the authorities on the planet when we’re done so they can do some digging on the resort management and the like.”

“Maybe.” McCree shrugged his shoulders dismissively as he picked up his cigar from the ashtray at his desk. “Depends on how nicely they wanna play with us while we get our homework done. Never know with these kinds of places.”

“So, how soon will we be leaving this galaxy?” 

“‘Bout an hour. Need to get Shimada caught up on our new info and then get the hyperlane money funneled to our cruiser's account so we can hop outta here. Our boss ain’t gonna be too happy ‘bout it though.” Jesse sighs as before taking a smoke and lazily exhaling a ring.

“Alright. I’ll get my stuff tied down for the jump. See you, Captain.”

“See ya, Jack.” McCree waved him off as the man put his chair back where he found it and left the room.

\--

Jack nervously stepped out from the resort’s locker room and into the sunlight. The skies were a clear, bright blue, with a few clouds hanging around while the breeze the blew by was warm and felt good against his bare skin. He wore a black and red swim trunks, a sun hat, sandals (with no socks after getting scolded by McCree), and carried his towel, a wallet with some credits in it along with a bottle of sunscreen. The walk from the resort to the beach was a short one, Jack taking a deep breath to smell the salt on the breeze and just look out at the ocean. Jack’s colony had a simulated beach environment but this was the first time he had ever been to a real ocean before.

His eyes glanced down at the sand as he stepped down from the boardwalk onto it, enjoying the warmth of the sand that flooded in between his toes as his feet slightly sunk into it. He must have been standing there for a little bit longer than was considered acceptable since he hadn’t even noticed someone rushing up to him until they were two feet in front of him.

“Hey!”

Jack looked up and saw a very human-looking man, his long, dark, salt and pepper hair soaking wet along with the rest of his body, wearing a pair of light blue swimming trunks. Humans weren’t uncommon on this planet, so, Jack assumed he must have mistaken him for someone else as he refocused on his objective. The beach wasn’t as crowded since it was owned by the resort but it still didn’t seem like Reaper was here yet. Maybe he should go ask an attendant how much a chair and umbrella would cost since he wasn’t exactly ready to swim yet.

“Hello? You with me, Jackie?” The man asked as he waved a hand in front of Jack’s face rather rudely.

Jack narrowed his eyes at the man. “Do I even want to know how you know my name?” 

This might be a trap. Reaper planned on using other people to jump him while he was distracted? McCree did say that it was odd that Reaper was able to get access to this planet at all with his criminal record. How many people did he buy out to set this all up? 

The rattling of canisters brought Jack’s focus back to the man in front of him and he couldn't believe he overlooked the two sets of biograde canisters strapped to each side of the man’s belt, backing away from the man cautiously. A chemical attack?!

“Jack. Think for a moment. How do you think I always manage to show up ‘out of nowhere’?” The man asked as he took unhooked one of the canisters on his hip and held it out from him to look at. “It’s easy to look and sound completely different if I stuff my nanites into canisters.”

Jack scowled at the man as he looked critically at the canister in his hand before looking up at the man’s face, noticing that his eyes might not actually be a brown when he actually looks at it. “...Reaper?” He whispered, not wanting anyone to pass by and overhear them, just in case. The bug on Jack’s hat would allow the swat team to listen into this conversation and he was sure McCree was ready to sweep him out of danger like they practiced over the past few days at night.

The bearded man frowned as he twisted the top off, black smoke pouring out while Jack scrambled away, covering his mouth to keep himself from inhaling whatever toxins were in the container. “Easy, Jackie.” The man reassured him as the black cloud did not disperse out and instead was absorbed into the man’s flesh, bulking him up ever so slightly before he twisted the cap shut. His voice was an octave deeper now and his red eyes standing out a bit more. It hit Jack hard to realize how Reaper always managed to evade capture for ten years while still being sighted so often:

He could manipulate his appearance to the point where he was passing as a different species.

“Holy shit…” Jack breathed as he dropped his hand away from his face, eyes wide at how ridiculous it all seemed but made perfect sense for a guy who could dematerialize himself into a black nanite cloud. Why wouldn’t he be able to manipulate his appearance and why did none of them consider it until now?

Reaper nodded his head as he clipped the canister back onto his likely waterproof belt before give Jack a smile that would have creeped anyone else out by how unnatural sharp they appeared. Jack knew it was a friendly one as he walked cautiously over to reaper and reached up to touch his hair, fascinated as he ran his fingers through it to find it feeling like the genuine article. Reaper rolled his eyes and lightly patted Jack’s hand away. “Mind asking before you touch a guy’s hair, Jack? Kind of a bad way to start off our beach date.” He chided him lightly, making Jack smack a hand to his face in embarrassment.

“Shit. I’m so sorry.” 

Reaper shrugged his shoulders lightly at that. “Eh. So long as you don’t do it again.” He casually chided him before looking at Jack from head to toe in amusement as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Not bad. You’re pale as all hell, but hopefully some fun in the sun will fix that.” Reaper grinned as Jack rolled his eyes at that.

“I deserve that one.” He admitted, letting Reaper taking his hand as they walked together past the few humanoids and humans laying out in the sun. 

Jack was curious about how the nanites actually worked to produce textures similar to human skin as he ran his thumb over Reaper’s hand. Reaper had much more firm skin in his real form, more closer that of an aquatic animal like a dolphin but still had some give to it like human skin had. It made him more curious about what was wrong with his nanites and how he got into this kind of condition in the first place. Now wasn’t the time to ponder on that though.

He felt himself smile as Reaper led him to two lounging chairs and a massive beach umbrella providing shade over them. Reaper had his own dark green beach tote sitting on one of the chairs, a huge white towel draped over it and a basic pair of black flip flops sitting beside the chair on the sand. It really helped solidify the normalcy of the situation and put Jack at ease as he walked over to the unclaimed chair to put his own bag down. Jack sat down next to his bag as he worked on getting his sunscreen bottle out, not surprised at all that Reaper took the opportunity to sit down next to him.

“What? Your chair not good enough for you or something?” Jack grinned as he felt the bottle get plucked out of his hands from behind and heard Reaper pop the top.

Reaper let out a pleasant chuckle at that. “Actually, my enjoyment of the mundane goes up exponentially if you’re around, Jackie. Any chair or backwater, dirty bar is good enough with those kinds of standards.” He squeeze the lotion into his palm before rubbing his hands together and slowly working it into Jack’s shoulders as Jack turned around fully to face the back of his propped up lounging chair to give Reaper full access. 

Jack gave a playful huff as he leaned forward to let Reaper work the cool screen over the back of his neck with no problem. “I only went to those dumps because I thought you would be comfortable there. Sorry I didn’t know you had a taste for the finer things in life like a resort on the be-EACH!!.” He let out an embarrassing shriek when Reaper suddenly pinched the side of his neck with his finger and quickly swatted the asshole’s hand away from it while he snickered.

“Sorry. It was too tempting.” Reaper cackled in amusement.

Jack’s face was red in embarrassment as he turned his head to shoot a glare over his shoulder. The sunscreen bottle was sitting in front of Reaper as the mischievous asshole had his index and thumb tapping together like a child imitating a fucking crab’s claws with their fingers.

“Seriously? A crab?”

Reaper paused and then frowned at Jack. “Yeah?”

Jack let out a sigh as he shook his head in disbelief. This goofball killed an entire space colony and many many more people as the bounty count continued to pile up over the years. He could be downright sadistic with how he dismembered bounty hunters and yet here he was, pretending to be a crab? “Put the damn sun screen on me, Reaper, I want to get in the water already.” Jack said instead.

“‘Gabriel’.”

“What?”

“Call me ‘Gabriel’. That’s the name I’m registered under at the resort.” Reap- Gabriel explained as Jack faced forward once more, the humanoid working on applying the sunscreen evenly to Jack’s back.

Jack quirked a brow at that since he didn’t have to register to use the resort’s lockers, oddly enough. “You actually got a room here?”

“Yep.” Gabriel popped that ‘p’ like he was damned proud of his infiltration too like the smug bastard he was. “I doubt you’ll want a tour of the suite since it’s too risky but I might as well brag that I actually got one.” He reassured Jack as he started rubbing in the screen into Jack’s lower back before taking his hands off Jack and passing him the sunscreen bottle so he could finish up.

Jack took the bottle and poured a generous amount of sunscreen into his palm before setting it down in his lap then rub his hands together. He started working on covering his arms before reloading and working it over his chest casually, pausing as he heard Gabriel suck in a slight breath quietly behind him. Jack grinned mischievously before turning himself around on the chair so he was facing Gabriel. Gabriel was sitting cross legged on the chair like Jack was but was glancing off into the distance like Jack didn’t just hear him take interest in his applying of sunscreen to his chest. “See something you like?” 

“No.” Gabriel answered almost instantly, crossing his arms over his chest as if to emphasize his point.

Jack was grinning from ear to ear as he slowly brought his hand over to hover over his pectorals, watching in amusement as Gabriel tensed up and tried to avoid looking directly at Jack. He knew there were people who had a chest fixation out there but never thought REAPER would be one of the lucky few that Jack would be allowed to torment with his plump pectorals. 

“Hard to believe you were telling ME to hurry up and put the sunscreen on.” Gabriel grumbled under his breath as he purposely turned around on the chair to face outwards towards the ocean.

Jack chuckled softly as he went to finish screening up his body so Gabriel wouldn’t have to wait so long to get back into the water. He recapped the sunscreen bottle and set it into his bag, relaxing in place as he waited the required ten minutes for the sunscreen to be absorbed into his skin cells. “Don’t be so grouchy when you’ll be groping my chest the moment we’re knee-deep in water.”

“Holy shit!” Gabriel laughed at that as he turned to face Jack. “And people say I’m forward?”

Jack playfully wagged his eyebrows at that remark. “First time I’ve heard anyone say that. Anything you want to confess to while we’re waiting here, Gabriel?”

“Oh, shut it, Jack.” Gabriel huffed before lightly shoving Jack’s shoulder with his hand. “You’re terrible.”

Jack smiled warmly at that before looking at Gabriel’s skin with some concern. “You want me to apply some sunscreen to you as well? Might as well return the favor if we have to wait for a bit.”

Gabriel blinked at that before smiling in amusement. “We hetantan come a from a planet similar to this one, actually!” He happily informed Jack. “It’s eighty percent ocean and there’s only two continental land masses where we walk about. Except, our ocean is fresh water, so, I guess you could say it was a giant lake?”

Jack’s eyes widened in surprise at that as he found himself leaning forward in interest. He had done some background checking into the planet Hetantan but it was mostly about the race than the place itself. “The whole planet is freshwater? That sounds incredible!”

Gabriel proudly puffed up his chest in response to Jack’s praise. “Indeed, it is a fine planet to live on, but, the station colonies we have floating about nearby in space and the one’s on our neighboring planet are equally as nice to stay at. We have obvious overcrowding issues, as you can tell.” He chuckled. “There have been a lot of efforts to cut back on our species population growth in recent centuries but it’s something that we wanted as a people rather than have imposed on us.”

“I never heard about that before.” 

Gabriel nodded his head in understanding. “The colony you live on is populated with humans and much more human-passing races. It makes sense that hetantan issues and the like wouldn’t get reported out there.”

“So, is it the egg laying thing that makes hetantan so successful with their population growth?” Jack asked curiously.

Gabriel brought a hand up to scratch at his beard as he reflected on that question for a few moments. “That’s… I never honestly heard about egg laying being a positive thing that helped our birth rates. At most, maybe two children are lucky to survive out of a clutch of five? The eggs don’t do so well out in zero gravity for some reason, unlike other races, along with the usual shit that ruins eggs before they’re even laid.” He shrugged.

“Like?”

“Chemicals in food causing the shells to be too frail, both parents are too busy or do not have the funds to allow one of them to carry the eggs to proper laying size, the pregnant parent is too small and has to get a C-section too early… There’s a lot of variables, is all I can really say.” Gabriel offered.

Jack nodded his head in understanding, figuring it was a very sensitive topic to ask any further questions about. “So, getting back on topic, you haven’t said if you need me to apply sunscreen to you or not.” 

Gabriel rolled his eyes at that before shaking his head. “Nah, hetantan flesh properties still apply even when I’m looking like a human. Thanks for being concerned about me though, Jackie.” He playfully winked before getting up and off the chair to stretch his arms and legs out. “So, what do you wanna do first?” He asked as he leaned over far to touch the sand with his finger tips, letting out a groan that had Jack thinking ‘same’ when he thought about his minor joint and back pain from slowly growing older. Just how old was Reaper anyways?

“Swim?” Jack answered as he placed his hat on the chair and weighed it down with his bag on the brim to keep it from flying away in the wind without also covering up the mic. Sure, it won’t be helpful when they move away from the chairs to go into the water a short distance away but McCree would be able to hear their conversation for now as Jack got up to start stretching out with Gabriel.

“I meant that there’s a rental shack run by the resort over by the boardwalk where we can rent equipment for windsurfing and such, Dummy.” He teased playfully as he watched Jack stand next to him as he spread his legs apart and reached for his left foot. Jack shook his head and sighed incredulously at that before falling in line with Gabriel’s stretching routine. “Come on, Jackie, your hair might be fully silver now but you definitely don’t need to stretch before hopping into the water.”

Jack lightly threw some sand at Gabriel’s leg to show his ‘frustration’ at the humanoid calling out his white hair. Although, he went to see a genetic therapist doctor to make sure the medicine hadn’t fucked him up too severely, it seemed like the blonde in his hair kicked the bucket far earlier than it was suppose to because of it. He would also likely start losing his hair but thankfully at a much slower rate than the hair color loss. Cancer was still very much a fear in the back of Jack’s mind but thank god the police department was going to foot all expenses related to that incident that his insurance wouldn’t cover.

“You alright?” Gabriel asked, making Jack glance over at him as they moved to sit down on the sand and start doing lower back and leg stretches.

“For now.” Jack answered cryptically, wanting someone to talk to about this that would possibly understand what he was going through. Maybe he should go see a psychologist since the department was all gungho about paying for all his copays and such.

Gabriel opened his mouth to say something before hesitating and closing his lips. His gaze turned to look out at the ocean for a moment before Jack saw the corners of his lips smile. Jack wasn't sure what Gabriel saw out there that lifted the mood for the hetantan but he found himself craning his head over to try to see out there as well. 

There was nothing but ocean and a few boats out in the distance.

Gabriel then slowly stood up to his full height before bowing his back as he pushed his hands into it and cracked several vertebrae. He let out a satisfied groan at the feeling, Jack smiling and following his lead to pop his own back before looking over at Gabriel with a knowing grin. Jack would have plenty of time to think about his declining condition but he had a job to do here that required his full attention right now.

In the end, it was Jack who grabbed Gabriel’s hand and had the humanoid run with him to the waves that were gently crashing against the sand. They were barely rolled under his knees from how disappointedly tiny they were compared to the artificial beaches he went to. 

“Why did you stop?” Gabriel asked curiously, not moving to pull his hand away from Jack’s as they stood together, the waves lapping against their legs before the current would pull back the water and them towards the sea. Maybe if it was stronger than a child pulling insistently at their legs, Jack might actually have not been as able to stand there as easily.

He looks back over at Gabriel's face and the clear confusion on it. 

Jack has to admit that there is something very nice about Reaper being able to form himself into a very convincing human but then the other times they were both together when he was truly himself had Jack concerned. He turned to Gabriel and glanced down at the canisters on the humanoid’s belt before looking back up at those red-brown eyes of his.

“This- Are you in pain from being like this?” Jack asks as he pulls Gabriel deeper into the water and away from the area where the waves crash against the shore. 

Once they were covered up to their chests in water, Jack felt his own pains lift along with his body. The water was cold but tolerable as they bobbed together in the waves, the lack of heavy salt seeming very out of place for Jack. Oceans and salty waves were one in the same for him but apparently not so much on this planet. At least the sky was blue to allow for some sense of normalcy. 

Gabriel frowned but let Jack lead him into the deep water, looking a bit embarrassed. “Yeah.” He sighed as he used his free hand to rub the back of his neck before looking at Jack. “It’s tolerable in warm weather and in the water. Part of the reason I wanted to bring you out here.” 

Jack smiled, rather touched by that. “You’ll take a break before dinner, right?” 

Gabriel nodded his head. “I should be fine for an hour or two out here if we’re just swimming and sunbathing.” 

“We could rent one of those inflatable tube rings so we can do both.” Jack suggested as they continued to bob up and down in the current, now up to their shoulders in deep water but still able to touch the sand below them.

Gabriel grinned mischievously at that. “What? So I can be the one pushing you around in the donut flotation device?”

Jack responded by rolling his eyes and splashing water at Gabriel, the humanoid releasing Jack’s hand to wipe his face off before using bot of his hand to shove a small wave back at Jack. He recoiled from the wave, thankfully having enough foresight to block his face but it left him open as Gabriel rushed him. Jack had never been suplexed in his entire life but he recognized what Gabriel was doing the moment he wrapped his arms around his waist and he threw both of them backwards into the water.

Water rushed past his ears and was pretty he screamed before they were both dunked. Jack was grinning like a fucking idiot as he squirmed in Gabriel’s arms, the both of them drifting under the water for a moment as he felt his feet breach the water. Air flew out of his mouth as he laughed, Gabriel releasing him as Jack finished the flip backwards with ease before pushing off the sandy bottom and back up to the surface. He was still a laughing mess as he spat water from his mouth, using his arms to keep himself afloat now that his toes couldn't consistently touch the bottom. Jack whirled to the left and then to the right, looking for Gabriel after wiping the water from his face. 

Gabriel spat as he breached the water, his hair drenched and all over his face while he brushed them out of the way. He quickly got his bearings about him after that and looked for Jack, something that brought up fond feelings in Jack’s chest and making him smile like a moron - especially when Gabriel turned around and spotted him. 

“Oh! There you are!” Gabriel chuckled as he did and elegant breast stroke to close the bit of distance between them before coming to a stop in front of Jack with a charming grin. “Thought the crabs got you for a moment there.”

Jack lightly shoved Gabriel's chest at that bad joke. “What? You don't think an officer of the law can't handle a tiny crustacean?” 

Gabriel looked at him in confusion. “Uh… Crabs are small creatures for you?”

That had Jack’s attention quick as he nervously looked down at the water even though he couldn't see anything much less the bottom. He was much more aware of his toes now and swam closer to Gabriel as he tried to tuck his knees to his chest, using his arms more to keep himself above the water. Jack didn't research the local fauna at all and had no idea what the fuck he was doing in the water, assuming it would just be small animals like the colony’s.

“Please don't tell me they got giant crabs in here.” 

Gabriel put an arm to Jack’s back as he helped move them both to shallower water where their feet could touch the bottom again. “Dunno. Hetantan certainly had those kinds of nightmare animals though.” He replied rather calmly. “It was kind of a sport to kill them if they wandered too close to shore past the barriers meant to keep the big guys out. They’re big but that’s all they got going for them. Meat from crab back home is so good, especially when one kill can feed three families for a week. Not that it doesn't get boring to eat the same meat for a whole week.”

Jack’s eyes were wide at that, his hands on Gabriel's shoulders since he was standing up fearlessly in the water that came up to his shoulders. Now he REALLY didn't want to put his feet down on the sand, as embarrassing as it was to make Gabriel support his weight. He liked his toes where they were, thank you very much.

“You don't have to drift so far away, you know…” Gabriel suggested, wrapping his arms around Jack’s waist to pull him in gently against his body. Jack rolled his eyes at that and wrapped his legs around Gabriel's waist while his arms shamelessly did the same around the humanoid’s neck. 

“You pinch me and I’ll dislocate your shoulder.” Jack threatened, not really meaning it but it was enough to get Gabriel to balk at that.

“You threaten to not kill but dislocate my shoulder?”

“Killing you isn't exactly a threat I can act on at the moment but it would be child’s play to do the other.” Jack stated casually, his eyes glancing over to the beach as he saw someone point in their direction, maybe a child? He felt his face warm up as he realized what this scene could look like. “Could you maybe walk around?” Jack suddenly asked, making Gabriel quirk a brow at him.

“Why?”

Jack felt his face grow even redder as he kept glancing at the beach and then back to Gabriel anxiously. He knew he could easily ask to be put down but the thought of touching the sandy bottom and whatever was swimming down there had Jack tightening his hold against Gabriel's body. “People are looking at us. They might think we’re being… indecent in the water.” Jack spoke anxiously.

“Oh. I guess you have a point there.” 

Jack scowled at Gabriel as he felt his hands hold his back and the other tuck under his ass to practically carry him now. Gabriel reassuringly patted his back as he rolled his eyes. “Watch the hand, Asshole.” He warned Gabriel firmly.

“Relax, I’m just trying to help keep you in place. I would only fondle you somewhere that’s clean, warm, and you being completely into it.” Gabriel remarked casually as he started walking parallel to the shore with Jack in his arms. “Besides, it’s kind of nice just doing this.” 

Jack frowned but didn’t complain now since they were moving and rested his head against Gabriel’s shoulder. It was calming to be surrounded by gentle waves lapping up against them and the cry of this planet’s sea birds in the sky above them. His head was clear of thoughts and just focusing on the sensation he could feel and hear, letting Gabriel keep watch for them as he entrusted his safety to him.

“Jackie?” Gabriel asked quietly, gently rousing Jack from completely nodding off in the hetantan’s arm.

“Hm?” 

“Falling asleep? Not exactly the smartest thing to do when it might take your rescue team a bit to fetch you out of the water if I try to drown you.” Gabriel remarked, obviously not meaning to act on it as he continued to move about in the water the same way he had for the past few minutes. 

“Please don't.” Jack yawned softly before nuzzling in closer to Gabriel's neck, drawing a pleasant chuckle from the colony killer.

“You’re way too trusting of me, Morrison.”

“You carry me around Iike a natural, I can't help but feel safe, Shit Wagon.” Jack lightly teased. 

“I’ve had a few offspring before.” Gabriel offers, perking Jack’s interest as he opens his eyes at that.

“Really?”

“Mhm. Definitely not as heavy as you are but the carry method is the same between our species: One hand on the rump while the other is on the back.” He lightly patted Jack in each spot in a clinical manner for emphasis as a particular big wave rolled in and Gabriel had to leap a bit to keep their heads dry above the water. “Hup!” Gabriel nails the landing with ease, making Jack roll his eyes at how silly he could get.

“So, your kids know you’re on the run then? What about your partner you had them with?” Jack asks to get back on topic, a feeling similar to jealousy in the pot of his stomach.

“Hm? I’m not quite sure about that. I was just the guy that gave my friend and her buddy the chance for their own kids without expensive treatments outside the C-section she needed to get the eggs out of her tiny body a month before they were to hatch. My friend sometimes sends me photos and videos of them. I’m just their uncle and I want it to stay that way.” Gabriel informs Jack casually. “I don't really think I can have a partner after the whole Horizon incident. That kind of knocks any healthy long-term relationships off the radar for anyone.”

Jack frowns at that, feeling shitty for his relief that Gabriel didn't have a romantic partner but also realizing how lonely the guy must be to be pushed to the point where he would date someone who was just bait for an ambush at the end of the day. He needed to change the subject a bit to something more positive for the both of them.

“So, your friend’s pregnancy… did she find it particularly painful to carry a clutch to term?” He asked curiously.

Gabriel hummed at that as he rested the side of his head against Jack's, pausing their trek in the water for a few moments before he turned around and started walking back the way they came. “She was maybe slimmer and shorter than you but I stayed with them all eight months to make everything was smelling and feeling alright. The hetantan nose is especially sharp when it knows what to smell for, even if it's very subtle scents like an egg going bad.” He then cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Of course, I knew her for about three decades before hand and her partner, bless her patience with my mess ups, was fine with me doing a lot of… scenting before hand to know what her body smelled like on good and bad days before I got her pregnant with the eggs.” 

“Oh god…” Jack chuckled nervously, that bit of information being a bit too personal for him but understood why Gabriel tried to say it as well as he could without being too graphic. “You didn't use at-home medical equipment for the pregnancy or had her visit a specialist?” He asked instead, still very curious about the whole story regardless.

“We had a specialist come visit our apartment once a month but my sensory glands kept an ‘eye’ out, as they say. She didn't have a uterus so there was a lot of risks of her intestinal system having problems but she had a huge love of protein yogurts and the ridiculous number of flavors it came in on top of the pills she took to stay healthy during the pregnancy.” Gabriel chuckled fondly at the memory as he readjusted Jack’s weight distribution with his arms. “She was the goddamn yogurt queen of the universe and there was no stopping her from trying every flavor unless it was incompatible with her Horian physiology.”

Jack felt himself smile at Gabriel's fond recollection of his friend’s pregnancy. “Horians are the humanoids with octopus lower extremities, right?” He asked for clarification’s sakes, beaming when Gabriel nodded his head.

“Yep. You got it right on the money but I’ll personally deck you myself if you ever directly refer to a Horian like that to their faces. Got it?”

Jack nodded his head at that lightly veiled threat. “Crystal.”

“Good.” Gabriel was much more content now that unpleasant bit was out of the way. “But, yeah, we had a few scares where she would get abdominal pain for days at a time but that was usually if she exercised in a way that caused the eggs to dislodge before they would cling to her abdominal walls again. Hetantan eggs are resilient like that, even in environments where it's not expected for them to thrive.” 

“Has the eggs ever killed anyone, outside of maybe not having the proper anatomy to lay them effectively?” Jack asked hesitantly, not really sure why he was so curious about such a dark topic.

“Outside of the actual act of egg laying?”

Jack nodded his head at that.

“Malnutrition during pregnancy is a big one but that’s pretty typical for any form of pregnancy, right? Hetantan sperm gathers the genetic material of the body’s through the mucosal/uterine lining so the eggs will develop without being rejected so it’s not often the eggs themselves cause death. Unless, their diet causes extreme blockage of it’s a rectal one, of course.” 

“Ah.” Jack contributed thoughtfully before realizing how dumb he sounded. “So, uh, do offspring come out as hetantan or a hybrid of both parents?” He added smoothly right after.

“Depends, honestly. I’ve seen hetantan offspring with the most beautiful patterns on their skin come from these kinds of interspecies relationships and also the opposite where the darker pigment of the hetantan carries over to whatever the host species was, in their offspring. My friend’s eggs hatched into two hetantans, a boy and a girl, and they had the tendrils of their mother on their backs. It was adorable as all hell. I need to show you a picture on my phone, Jackie.” Gabriel gushed happily as he hugged Jack tightly to his chest while he spun with him in the water. 

Jack finds himself cackling in delight as he holds on tightly to Gabriel's neck while they spin about like two idiots. The feelings in Jack’s chest blossom at Gabriel’s glee and the way he includes Jack in his joyous outburst, making the fires of affection he held for the hetantan grow. He wouldn't say he’s in love with Reaper, that would be foolhardy and rash, but he wouldn't deny that his companionship was one Jack was coming to adore quite fondly.

Neither of them pulled away when the delightful spinning came to a halt, them both breathless from laughing and then pressed their lips together. Jack felt his toes curl wonderfully as they pulled away and were still smiling and chuckling, no awkward stares or pauses to contemplate what they were to the other. It was just natural, just like the second kiss that came soon after before Gabriel peeled away and pressed his forehead against Jack’s, adoration in his brownish-red eyes that made Jack grin from ear-to-ear.

“Promise to show me pictures at dinner?” Jack asked.

“Deal, but I want you to build a sandcastle on me in exchange for hauling you around in the water instead of actually swimming.” Gabriel grinned in return.

“Sure thing. Sounds like fun.” Jack responded as Gabriel let him down and they both went to swim back to shore. They had to do a bit of walking back to their spot on the beach but they did so hand in hand like any other couple on the beach, lightly swinging their joined hands back and forth subconsciously.

\--

Jesse sat on the cheap couch in the hotel room they were renting one city over that was significantly cheaper than getting a room at the resort. Jack was sleeping soundly under the sheets after showering off when Jesse and Jack took the rent car back to the hotel after Gabriel wanted to go back to his room to rest up. There was only one bed so they both agreed that Jack should make use of it while they were here. 

All of Jesse and the squad’s equipment for the raid was packed into the tiny room, barely leaving him any room on the couch but the corner by the arm rest to sit on while he worked on his report for the higher ups. They have been ramping up the hard light technology and reducing the amount of live ammunition they had on-hand since it was basically useless to try to use on Reaper. The property damage and injury potential for no gain was a pretty good excuse to go with alternatives to simply try to capture Reaper rather than flat out killing him. Jesse had the feeling that it might be better to go with a capture method now that he had a good inkling that Jack could have feelings for the Reaper. 

No need to traumatize anyone if they could help it, right? Jesse wanted Jack to stay on the police force when they sent him back to his original colony after everything was said and done. There was a need for good cops on the beat in the universe and it would be a shame if Jack resigned if he could prevent it.

Jesse’s commlink beeped softly in his ear and he reached up to tap the ‘call’ button to answer it.

“McCree here.” 

“I have full access to the resort’s servers, Jesse.” Genji spoke as he was likely tapping away on the holoscreen keyboard next to his brother in the intelligence cruiser a few planets away. 

Jesse tried to recline on the couch, propping his legs up onto the unmarked black bags containing body armor and the like hogging the space he wanted to stretch out over. He had a holoscreen in front of him and a holo keyboard being projected over his lap as he changed the screen with a flick of a finger from the report to a document he was recording everything for the mission. “Go ahead.”

“‘Gabriel Reyes’ is staying in room 502 in building number 3, security cameras have spotted a man matching the description you gave me entering the room ten minutes ago. No activity in the hallway nor on the security cameras outside of the building that would imply Reaper has left the premise through normal human means from his room.”

Jesse nodded his head as he rapidly took notes. “No scumbag cameras in the rooms you can access?”

“No, only penthouse has the sleaze cameras from what Hanzo and I could find.” Genji reported before pausing as Jesse heard another voice talk to Genji in the distance. “Hanzo says he’s still looking, by the way.”

Jesse guessed that was the reason Genji called him rather than Hanzo - He was probably multitasking like hell to get the information they needed. He rolled his eyes at Hanzo’s ability to be thorough and kept his annoyance at bay when he had to break the guy’s concentration bubble. “Tell him it’s not mission critical. The raid ain’t happenin’ at the resort and we need his focus on the restaurant.” The raid would happen here, after all.

“What? Seriously? Hold on…” Genji grumbled before the line was muted for a few moments, likely breaking the news to his brother. The line was unmuted as Genji heaved out a heavy sigh, a string of Japanese cursing in the background while Hanzo likely cussed out McCree in his native tongue. “He’s changing focus and hates that you took the fun out of his day. It’s not everyday he gets to do deep digging on super important resorts like this.”

“He’ll get over it. We don't got time to play deep-internet hacker when we’re gettin’ closer to show time and I need my information so no one innocent gets hurt or someone important doesn't get inconvenienced too much. These places are crawling with the latter and you know how our bosses don't like complaints from those types.” Jesse drawled, badly wanting to light a cigar to shake off his preoperative jitters but couldn't afford to let Reaper find consistency in any of the operatives that worked with Jack to the point where it would identify them. A smoker was a big tip off that he couldn't afford Reaper getting a hold of unless he wanted to end up dead.

“Yeah, yeah, I get you, Jesse. We’ll have everything ready before they have dinner. Don't worry about it.” Genji hand waved casually, bringing some form of relief since he knew he could trust the Shimadas when they promised to get something done. This shit was stressful enough as it was.

“Thanks, Genji. I’ll treat you two to some drinks when the raid is over fer yer hard work.” Jesse chuckled.

Genji chuckled knowingly in response. “I really doubt we’ll get Reaper on the second try, McCree, but, a promise is a promise regardless of the raid’s outcome, right?”

Jesse sighed at that as he threw his head backwards onto the arm rest. “Don't be a dick and jinx it, Genji. Hard light tech is our best bet to trap Reaper and we need all the lucky we can get fer this one.” 

“Alright. I’ll stop teasing, Cowboy. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

“Thanks. See ya later.” 

“Later, Jesse!” Genji spoke before the call ended and Jesse clicked on the ‘call’ button to hang up on that channel.

Jesse flopped his arms down, one draping off the couch as he heaved a heavy sigh, tired and desperately wanting a nap even though he would be too anxious to sleep. Reaper was used to bounty hunters and the police using conventional weapons to try to kill him but never hard light tech to try and snare him. They would have that as an element of surprise but whether it would work or not was up in the air. Hypothetically it would work since they would fortified it with an electromagnetic field to keep Reaper in his nanite cloud state while the hard light barrier prevented the cloud from escaping.

Though the plan hinged on Jack bringing Reaper back here, via taxi, where the trap would be ready to be springed on the both of them when Jack let him in. The fields wouldn't hurt Jack, Jesse refused any plan tossed on his desk that put Jack’s life in danger, like the sober serum on the first date, and this was one the tech department came up that was much better in that instance. 

Jesse frowned before bringing his hand up to drag down his face as he groaned. 

The longer they do this song and dance with Reaper, the less cooperative Jack would get. It wasn't right to assume that the man was falling in love but he saw those kisses they had in the ocean from where he was watching them on the docks a distance away. Jack was either smitten or a better actor than Jesse originally pegged him as…

He could only hope this plan would work out for all of their sakes, including Jack’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer to eggies, everyone! As usual, please leave your thoughts on the chapter and I'll get back to them ASAP!


	4. Date Three Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have a heart to heart.

Gabriel was as slim as he was when Jack first met him on the beach when he saw the human-passing hetantan waiting for him outside of the drop off point in front of the restaurant’s entrance. He was wearing a white tuxedo with a blue button up underneath, a simple black tie hanging in the front, and black, polished, dress shoes on his feet. Gabriel was dressed damned fine and his suit cut nicely to his figure as he pushed himself off the pillar he was relaxing against when Jack’s taxi pulled up. Jack felt very underdressed, wearing only a red button up shirt, black tie, black dress pants and dress shoes.

Jack looked nervously at the restaurant door after paying the driver, tucking his wallet back into his pocket before looking at Gabriel as he stood casually in front of Jack while the taxi drove away. “You think I should have brought my dress coat?” He asked Gabriel, unsure if he should call Jesse to have someone bring it from the hotel room.

Gabriel shook his head. “It’s fine. There’s a couple of guys wearing business casual in there already, Jackie. They won't make a big deal of it.” He reassured him before eyeing him from top to bottom. “Not bad.” 

Jack quirks a brow at him at that as he looks down at himself, completely unimpressed, before trying to smooth out his business shirt for the fifteenth time in the past hour before looking up at Gabriel. “I know. Sorry.”

Gabriel scowled in annoyance before stepping forward and pulling Jack’s shirt tail out from his pants. He then got to work tucking it back into Jack’s pants as Jack was completely embarrassed from Gabriel fixing his rushed mistake while getting dressed.

“God, Gabe! You don't have to!” 

“I’m pretty much done. Chill, Morrison.” Gabriel clicked his tongue as he smoothed out Jack’s shirt from behind after tucking it in. “There. You need to get your clothes hemmed if you’re uncomfortable with how the dimensions fall on your frame.” He gave Jack’s ass a playful swat, grinning in amusement as Jack jumped from the contact and turned to glare at him while Gabriel tucked his hands back into his jacket pockets. “I don't even wear clothes half the time and even I know about the beauty of a professional seamstress.”

Jack rolled his eyes, admitting that his shirt fell on him a lot better with Gabriel's quick retuck though he wished it wasn't in public and under the eyes of the security cameras the team was watching him from. He sighed and shook his head before offering Gabriel his arm. “Come on. They’ll give away our table if we’re late, Mr. Perfect.”

Gabriel grinned mischievously at that as he looped his arm through Jack’s. “Certainly. I haven’t torn myself apart enough today just to have our dinner taken out from under us so easily.” 

Jack knows that he’s joking but his eyes move down to Gabriel’s waist and finds those canisters that hold the excess nanites gone. They couldn’t be hiding in his suit either from how bulky they were and Gabriel suit was cut to well to hide them properly. Blue eyes looked up into confused brown ones. “Jack?”

“Your canisters? Where are they?”

Gabriel frowns at that as he glances at their surroundings, maybe out of slight paranoia? Jack couldn’t think of a reason for it considering it’s too expensive to record audio for security systems and Jack has been quite good at using Reaper’s fake name like it was second nature. No one on the planet, or at least on the resort, should be suspicious of Gabriel’s identity unless a leak happened on Jack’s side.

“I’m not helpless, Jackie. I can get away if I really want to.” He mumbles quietly to Jack as he leans over to whisper to him before gently tugging Jack’s arm towards the double glass doors that would lead into the resturaunt. “Come on, already. Are you the one who’s afraid they’ll give our table away?”

Jack isn’t convinced by Gabriel’s deflection but let’s Gabriel tug him forward so they can enter the restaurant arm-in-arm like any other normal couple. The restaurant is laid out like any other fancy ass dive from the movies; gorgeous navy blue carpeting that muffles footsteps with ease, chandeliers with actual candles illuminating the room in a soft glow, candles on the white dressed tables to create an intimate setting, waiters in tailored suits with coat tails, a grand piano in the center of the room with a professional pianist elegantly playing relaxing music for the atmosphere, and an actual waterfall installed in front of the grand staircase leading up to the second floor of tables. 

Gabriel and Jack approached the podium where a human male acted as the host, greeting them with a smile on his face. “Good evening, Gentlemen. May I have the name your table is reserved under?” He asked politely as he looked from Gabriel to Jack expectantly.

“‘Reyes’, it’s under ‘Gabriel Reyes’.” Gabriel confidently answers before looking back over at Jack with a smile.

The host nods his head and pulls up a holoscreen that showed the layout out of all the tables in the resturaunt, switching to another screen with table arrangements on it and tapping on one of the red ‘reserved’ tables to flip the color to green before minimizing the holoscreen by swiping downwards. He then pick up two menus and steps out behind the podium. “If you would follow me, Gentlemen, I’ll get you seated at your table.”

Gabriel is still smiling as they walked together behind the host as he leads them past occupied tables where other nicely dressed diners ate amongst themselves. Jack couldn’t help but notice that all the patrons were human-passing or flat out human compared to the more decent variety of humanoids and aliens out on the beach. Humans were certainly not the wealthiest species in the universe yet there seemed to be a bias as Jack wondered if Reaper would have been able to get a table here were he not human-passing at the moment. There was no custom chairs for large or oddly shaped aliens nor was there enough spacing between tables that would imply they expect non-human patrons at all.

Jack kept his trap shut as the host continued by leading them up the stairs, the waterfall beautifully complementing the relaxed and up-scale atmosphere the restaurant was boasting. They were seated at a table overlooking the restaurant by the railings and allowed them ample view of the beach from the huge glass windows. Gabriel pulled his arm away from Jack’s and pulled out his chair for him, putting Jack at ease as he took the invitation and sat down, allowing Gabriel to push him in before he went over to the other side of their two-person table and sat himself down. The host then handed them each a menu before letting them know that their server would be with them in a moment then leaving to head back down the staircase.

“Isn’t this nice, Jackie?” Gabriel asked in barely contained excitement as he looked about the place in awe. “They even have a bar on this floor.” He remarked as he gestured his head in the direction of said bar further out of the way in the back behind him.

Jack found himself smiling in amusement as he set his menu down for a moment on the table. “Dunno. I certainly find myself more excited for the company rather than the layout of the restaurant. You look real good in a suit, Gabe.” He complimented, enjoying the genuine smile Gabriel gave him in response to his flirtatious remark.

“Thanks! It took a lot of effort to make this all possible. I’m glad you’re enjoying the day as much as I am.”

Jack noticed the way Gabriel shifted while he spoke, a bit concerned that he was still having pain from storing his nanites away and forcefully sculpting himself into the form of a human. They both had a two hour resting period before dinner after they finished having fun at the beach but Jack couldn’t help but wonder if two hours wasn’t nearly enough down time to allow Reaper to relax in his normal form in the safety of his room. Was he at least taking medicine to help dull the pain or was he just forcing himself at this point to get through the day? Would there be problems from him leaving his canisters back in his room?

The ambush wouldn’t happen until much later but the idea was to have him come back to Jack’s hotel room with him to spend the night, probably the biggest heads-up Reaper was going to get. It made Jack internally debate if he should encourage Gabriel to go back and ‘grab what he needed’ from his hotel room right after they were done with having dinner. The problem with that would be that Jack had a bug on him and McCree was listening and watching him through the restaurant's security feed. Jack would have to keep it in the back of his mind for now on what he plans on doing depending on what Gabriel wanted to do after dinner…

A woman in a tuxedo came over to the table, snapping Jack out of his own mind and back in the presence as she handed him a much smaller menu. “Here’s a list of our liquor we have in stock today, Sirs. Could I get you fellas anything to order for now?” The server asked as she pulled out a pen and pad to take down their orders, Jack looking through the alchohol list before passing it back over to Gabriel across from him.

“Maybe some water to start out with?” Jack offered with a smile. “We need some time to think it over.”

The woman smiled and nodded her head. “Certainly. Take all the time you need.” She replied politely before turning and heading over to another table to assist the patrons there.

“You want to order a bottle of wine and split it?” Jack asked curiously as he regarded Gabriel across from him while the hetantan was looking through the alchohol list.

“I guess.” Gabriel answered hesitantly as he glanced up at Jack over the menu. “I’m not really used to ordering wine, it’s a bit of a human thing.” He explained as he set it down, sheepishly looking at Jack while rubbing the back of his neck. “A little assistance here?”

Jack smiled warmly and nodded his head, explaining the relevant bits about wine and which ones usual pair best with what meat to bring out the full flavor. They ended up going with a bottle of cabernet mignon and ordered two plates of the daily special since neither of them could decide what they wanted to eat. Gabriel waited until the waitress was walking away with their orders and menus before digging out his phone from his pocket and started typing away furiously, perking Jack’s curiosity from the other side of the table.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to see what a ‘cartwhol’ is.” Gabriel replied as he scrolled his finger over the screen while Jack let out an incredulous sigh.

“You mean you didn’t know when you ordered it for us?” Jack asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “You seemed so damn confident about it too.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes at Jack before sliding his phone across the table to Jack and folded his arms over his chest as he casually laid back in his seat. “‘Cartwhols’ are like aquatic cows, I guess?”

Jack looked at the entry on cartwhols that Gabriel passed over to him and felt himself tense up from the sight. “It looks like an animal made out of those deep sea vents on Earth! Is it made out of grey sponges or something? It doesn’t look like an animal at all!” He argued as he turned the screen towards Gabriel in his hand and pointed at it.

Gabriel lightly shrugged his shoulders. “Apparently, what’s on the inside is what makes it an animal? I didn’t read anything on the web entry for it before I passed the phone over to you, after all.” He spoke dismissively. “When the waiter comes back just wave her over and change it to something you’ll actually want to eat. I don’t particularly care.” Gabriel advised Jack.

Jack merely raised a brow at Gabriel as he opened up a new window on Gabriel’s mobile browser to start typing away on it. “You’re still going to eat it?” He looked down to see what search result brought up on ‘hetantan’ and ‘cartwhol’ to see if Gabriel might get sick from eating the meat. A translation of the health organization’s website on Hetantan didn’t reveal anything critical about the hetantan diet not mixing well with carwhol but he was probably going to need to ask Gabriel to double check anyways. “Nothing is really coming up in English about hetantan’s being sensitive to the meat, but, you want to double check anyways?” Jack offered Gabriel the phone and Gabe just held up one of his palms as he shook his head.

“Nah. Should be fine with the nanites anyways since they’ll heal me through anything.” He reassured Jack casually before pointing to the phone. “You can look at the phone gallery if you want. Meeshu and Lorenge’s photos are in an album on there and you said you wanted to see them anyways, right?” Gabriel smiled happily, likely referring to his two ‘nieces’ that he told Jack about while they were at the beach. He watched Jack turn the phone’s screen back towards himself as Jack then pulled up the photo gallery and didn’t have to scroll too far to find the album Gabriel was referring to. There was literally no other pictures on the phone BUT those of his kids, it was actually kind of endearing.

They were certainly hetantan alright, hunched back and little paddings of bones peppering their shoulders and back like little grey spots. Their hide was a sea green and almost translucent with little tendrils poking out of their backs like sea anemones. Reaper was laying on his back with the little ones crawling over him in one picture, they couldn’t be a year old at that point from how tiny they were in comparison to Reaper, but, there they were, sharp black talons wrapped with little sea green tendrils as he held up his child, one hand under to support their belly and just barely filling his palm. Jack felt like he was borderline going to melt when the next picture shower the children’s biological mother casually laying over Reaper’s stomach and snuggling with one of the babies in her arms and under her chin while Reaper was affectionately nuzzling the one he was holding. It was clear that the Horian was not in love with Reaper from the looks she was giving the cameraman holding the phone while in another photo Reaper looked like he was laughing at something the camera holder said while the Horian was rolling their eyes at what was said.

The little babies did not have the mask pattern on their face but instead had little grey stripes across them and beautiful blue eyes that seemed to hold Jack’s gaze as the next few pictures were just snapshots on the floor while the babies played with some plushies. Jack had a feeling Reaper was taking the pictures for these ones since a telling black clawed hand was often affectionately stroking the sides of the babies’ faces to make them smile while others showed Reaper’s hand playfully trying to ‘take’ the stuffed toys from his kids and getting his fingers snared by their sea green tendrils in return. He was pretty sure they weren’t angry at their father, more like using their tendrils to feel his hand like they did when they wrapped around the toys? Gosh, they were way too small and delicate-looking and Jack subconsciously brought a hand up to cover his mouth to muffle the gleeful noises he was making as he continued to swipe through the album.

The next image was a preview slide of a video probably from when the babies were probably two or three years old judging from how they were both the length of Reaper’s forearm. Jack made sure the volume on the phone wasn’t too high before hitting ‘play’ on the video:

‘Do it again, Gabe!’ A literally bubbly sounding woman’s voice beaconed Reaper from off-screen, the video gradually zoomed out from the babies squirming around in the hetantan’s arms as he reclined back on a couch in a rather normal looking apartment. 

Reaper glanced up once in the direction of the camera before looking back down at the babies climbing all over his chest and up his left arm with their claws and hind legs, their tendrils clinging to his skin from their backs to support their adventurous natures. Jack’s eyes widened for a moment as two black tendrils came out from Reaper’s back to gently tap the little sea green hetantan climbing up his arm while his claws were currently occupied by the tendrils of the hetantan on his chest. The little sea green tendrils went from clinging to their father’s forearm to the tendrils pressing on its back, Jack felt like he was borderline going to cry when he watched the tip of the black tendril lay over the green ones, like they were holding hands and watched the other black tendril act as a rail for the baby to lean against as it continued to crawl upwards.

It was so protective and such a disgusting show of fatherly concern for his children’s well-being that it twisted Jack’s heart to the point of overstimulation from how cute it was. This was going to kill him. The sight of Reaper being stupidly cute with his kids was going to kill him before the asshole across from him would ever dare to lift a talon against him!

‘Like this?’ Reaper asked the bubbly speaking cameraman, absolutely baffled as he tried to figure out what they were referring to and wiggled the tendril he was using as a railing to keep the hetantan baby from falling off his arm.

‘No, no!’ A smooth-sounding woman spoke in the background while Reaper quirked a brow in the direction of the cameraman. ‘She meant the ‘call’, make the location sound again.’ They clarified Reaper’s making an ‘o’ in understanding.

‘Just once more then that’s it.’ Reaper chuckled fondly before clearing his throat to build anticipation then let out a bellowing sound similar to recordings of whales underwater Jack had watched as a child. The squirmy hetantan babies froze, completely rigid as their heads snapped up to their father’s head, sea green tendrils standing upright like a defensive cat’s hackles. Jack let out a strangled noise at how the women off-screen were reacting like Jack was as Reaper’s mouth twisted to try to not smile as he looked back and forth between the babies.

‘I feel so bad!’ Reaper croaked out weakly, as he tried to not laugh while the babies were still frozen in place, unsure of the noise and where it came from. ‘They’re so confused!’ He wheezed, another tendril coming out of his back to wipe at his mask’s eyeholes. 

The video ended there with the adults all laughing and Jack couldn't help but be touched by how cute and mean the little prank was, especially the way Reaper was tearing up from the way the tendril wiped at his mask. Jack learned a lot of little things about Reaper from the two minute video; both personal and anatomical. He could sprout tendrils, likely the nanites allowing him to do so rather than anatomical features Reaper was born with if the human-passing hetantan before him was any evidence of how far Reaper could manipulate his personal appearance. Though, if that WAS true then Reaper had nanites before the Horizon incident unlike the current theories where the nanites were the cause of Reaper going insane from an ‘illegal experimentation’ on the colony. Jack felt the uncertainty squeeze at his mind as he wanted to believe the nanites and a long moment of madness was what spiraled out of control on the Horizon colony and it was ultimately the overkill methods of the responding forces to subdue/kill Reaper that caused the colony’s bio support systems to go offline, not that Reaper was actually mentally sound during the incident…

He shook his head, Jack couldn't let himself over think this whole thing. Reaper was more of a mystery than he initially assumed and to come to a conclusion off a short video might undermine all the time he spent getting his trust. The only real concrete evidence he gained from this was that Reaper had ‘proof’ he had children and that one of the apartment dwellers called Reaper ‘Gabe’, making ‘Gabriel Reyes’ his actual name? He would need to reference the report on Reaper again sometime.

Jack was anxious as he thought about how easy it would have been for Gabriel to see his discomfort and glanced up hesitantly. Gabriel had his elbows up on the table and was propping up his chin with the warmest smile on his face, very pleased and not tense one bit. Jack felt his heart leap up into his throat and felt the thoughts plaguing him vanish into the blossoming warmth in the pit of his stomach. He was so sincerely happy and looking at him with such blatant affection that Jack felt himself grow flustered under his gaze.

“What?” Jack felt himself spout defensively as he felt his face burn.

“I just… I thought your reaction was nice.” Gabriel admitted in an oddly sheepish manner as he rested his arms on the table in front of himself. “I thought you would find them too alien to find cute. It’s one thing to lie about finding my normal body unappealing but I guess I’m trying to trick myself into thinking your reactions were genuine.” He spoke warily, looking off to the side in thought.

Jack felt hurt at Gabriel's assumption that he thought his real body was unattractive. “Is that why…?” He gestured to Gabriel's human-passing form vaguely as the waiter came back with their wine in an ice bucket along with their appetizers. 

Gabriel glanced over at the waiter, staying silent as he watched her present the bottle to Jack to verify it was what they wanted to drink before using an ancient corkscrew to remove the cork. She was oblivious as she filled their wine glasses before setting the ice bucket on a holder between the two candles and placed the cork back on the top of the bottle then setting that back into the ice bucket. After she laid the appetizer plates in front of Gabriel and Jack respectively, she left them be after Jack dismissed her, saying they were fine for now in regards to needing anything else.

“Yes and no.” Gabriel remarked somberly as he folded his hands in front of himself, seeming rather anxious for some reason. “You know what sort of price I had to pay to bring you out here; Revealing one major trick-of-the-trade that has kept me off the grid for years but, in exchange, I get to take you to some place fantastic where it's more troublesome for your team to interrupt our date.” He looked away for a moment before looking at Jack, trouble written all over his face. “I don't think I can run much longer but I don't want to die either. I’ve let myself be lead into such an easy trap out of curiosity and now I’m too entangled to want to leave. I love you, Jack Morrison.”

In the back of Jack’s mind he feels pity for Reaper. Regardless of his own conflicted feelings and affections he held for the hetantan, he clearly understood his pain since it was identical to his own. He laughed pathetically, his heart tearing to shreds as he felt tears roll down his cheeks from how much hearing Reaper’s confession hurt himself and how it just drove the knife even deeper. Jack brought a hand up to cover his eyes as he tried his best to push back his feelings, not wanting to make a fool of himself in a public place. 

“Jack…” 

His voice, his apprehension… Gabriel was fucking himself over for Jack and just wanted to hear him say something, anything, and Jack was just a mess coming apart at the seams. Thankfully Jack had a lot of it back under control, he just needed a few moments to get his breathing back on track and rub away the wetness from his face. He could only imagine how pathetic he looked as he looked up at Gabriel's worried face from across the table.

“You’re not the only one not affected by this whole game, Gabe.” Jack sniffled before reaching down to unroll his napkin to wipe his face and nose off. He felt just as guilty as he looked away. “I love you too.”

This was the worst possible confession in the universe in Jack’s mind. They were both aware of how much this fucks up both of them and Jack’s more upset hearing those three words than being on cloud nine like the last time a crush confessed to him in college. Worse yet: McCree was listening in and the whole thing was being recorded. Jack no doubt expected himself to get pulled from the mission and be sent back with disgrace to his colony, unable to perform a public service to get a colony killer off the map. Reaper will continue to kill if they couldn't apprehend him here and Jack would have that weight on his shoulders for the rest of his life every time Reaper kills a bounty hunter or police officer to escape their grasp.

“Thank you. I know it’s not what you want to hear: Gratitude from a guy with a lot of death following him in his wake but I genuinely enjoyed everything. Knowing that you love me in return, it's not something I expected but I didn't think it was impossible either.” Gabriel spoke tenderly, Jack looking up to see tears rolling down Gabriel's face as well as he kept brushing them away from his face. “This will be my last dinner with such fine company before I’ll have to resolve not to fall for such tricks anymore.” He looked down at his appetizers and picked up his fork and knife with new resolve to enjoy it slowly. Savoring the flavors as Jack felt himself smile and nodded his head in agreement before doing the same.

The rest of dinner went by quietly, the both of them engaging each other in light conversation and just taking their time to eat. It was poetic, in a way, not like a ‘last dinner’ situation since it’s not a betrayal if you know about the other person's intentions from day one. It was a mutual understanding that things could not be the same from here on out and would likely result in their departure, either by Reaper escaping from the ambush or finally being subdued. Jack’s fate was several galaxies away regardless of what the outcome was tonight. He was going to take Reaper to the hotel, even if they do drag out the dinner for another hour or so.

Gabriel paid for the meal and they both went down the steps together after Gabe got the credit chip back. Their fingers intertwined with the other’s as they basked in the warmth between them, smiling instead of feeling crushing despair like they did earlier. Jack faced Gabriel when they stepped outside of the glass doors, the smell of salt air on the wind as it blew gently past them.

“Can I see your room, Gabriel?” Jack asked, stepping into Gabriel's personal space to make his intentions evident as he brought his free hand up to gently stroke the soft fabric of Gabriel's suit. “Before we go back to my place to sleep?”

Gabriel looked like Jack said something especially pleasant as he leaned forward to kiss him before pausing right as their lips were about to touch. He then withdrew and frowned as he looked away for a solid few moments, contemplating something that was troubling him. Jack felt the dull pangs of rejection in his chest but remained resolute, wanting to give Gabriel the time he needed to consider this change of plans. It would only be fair to give him that much, after all.

“What would I gain from letting you into my room?” Gabriel asked curiously, watching Jack carefully with brown eyes that hid the reds he was used to seeing before he came here after Gabriel.

Jack didn't have to think about his response one bit. “A real reason for you to come see me.”

\--

Gabriel's hotel room was much more spacious than the one the team had set up shop in for the ambush as Jack closed the door behind himself before locking the hotel provided safety measures in place. He turned around and saw Gabriel looking at him as if he couldn't believe Jack was actually in the same room with him. Jack found it endearing as he pushed off his shoes, the motion snapping Gabriel out of his daze as he followed suit.

The room was tropical-themed, using a pastel orange on the walls and a tile flooring for the kitchen area with a full-size refrigerator, stove and prep counters, a glass dining table with chairs and then a lounging area with a nice couch and TV. There was a panoramic window that had an unobstructed view of the ocean along with the beach below. To the right of the window was a door that likely lead to the master bedroom, Jack’s ultimate goal for this ‘quick’ visit.

Hopefully, Jesse wouldn't be too personally pissed with what he planned on doing since he was probably going to get fired anyways.

Jack waited until Gabriel had his shoes off before stepping forward and wrapping his arms loosely over his shoulders, pressing his chest against Gabriel's. The contact brought a warm smile to the hetantan’s face as he wrapped his arms around Jack’s waist, leaning in for a kiss and chuckling against Jack’s lips when he met him halfway just as eagerly. That incredible warmth flowed through Jack just hearing and feeling the vibration of Gabriel's chuckle against his lips, being with Gabriel made him so happy that he prayed it wasn't just infatuation between them. 

Jack pulled back to grin at Gabriel. “Bedroom?”

Gabriel sarcastically rolled his eyes. “What kind of monster do you take me to be?” Jack smirked in amusement at that. “Fuck off.” He chuckled, pinching Jack’s back as punishment and made him practically jolted up against Gabriel's body.

“Gabe!”

“Oh dear. It seems the crabs have invaded the-”

Jack cut him off by kissing him hard on the lips, growling as he gripping Gabriel’s hair between his fingers. Gabriel let out a surprised ‘mmph!’ at that but complied with cutting out the playful pinching shit really quick as he melted into the kiss, eyes half-lidded and heavy when they pulled apart.

“Kissing is really nice.” Gabriel commented. “Never thought it was anything special before.”

Jack rolled his eyes at that, thinking Gabriel was being sarcastic before pausing and remember the lack of padding of Gabe’s natural lips had. He looked at Gabriel with a quirked brow as he considered that the kiss in the ocean might have been Gabriel's actual first one, assuming he never kissed anyone in that human-passing form before. “Call me ‘oblivious’ but how do hetantan physically show affection?”

Gabriel tilted his head to the side as he considered the phrasing of that sentence before turning his head to glance at the closed door to the master bedroom then back at Jack. “Uh… Well… You want me to show you?” He asked nervously as he took one hand off of Jack’s back to rub at the back of his neck.

Jack let out a ‘pfft’ and quickly felt himself smile at how sheepish Gabriel was being about wanting to change forms. He took Gabriel’s hand into his own with a reassuring smile as he led him to the bedroom door and turned the knob before stepping in. Jack half expected there to be weird ass machinery to help Gabriel take himself apart and stuff his nanites into the containers but found nothing out of place. The bed was a king with thin, light green sheets over it and two sleeping pillows at the head of the bed with the decorative pillows and the comforter thrown off to the side. The headboard was made from lavish stained wood and had carved designs of aquatic fauna into the wood, giving it a nice finish. There was a sliding door a few steps to the left of the bed that lead out onto a balcony that had a plastic table and two chairs surrounding it, Jack figured there might be more there but didn’t bother looking as to the right in the room, was tile flooring and a four person jacuzzi, large mirrors hugging those walls that gave Jack some pretty mischievous ideas. If only they had three hours to burn rather than just struggling for an hour to have some fun...

Gabriel walked past Jack and started pulling the curtains while Jack turned around to shut and lock the door. The room became dimmer from the lack of natural lighting but Jack flipped on the light switch to turn on the wall mounted light on either side of the bed. There was a ceiling fan rotating over the bed, keeping the cool air moving in the room as Jack took a seat on the bed while Gabriel walked over to the closet, opened it, and started punching in the code to get the safe open. Jack used that time to think about where to put his shirt and the bug he had under flipped collar. Jesse did say he could have sex with Reaper but who was to say that the team wouldn’t just raid the hotel mid-coitus? It was a risk to throw the shirt too far away in case Reaper did try something underhanded and he needed help...

Jack removed his tie, tossing it on the floor, before he began unbuttoning his shirt, aware that it would probably take out some of the fun of Reaper taking it off him but didn’t feel comfortable having it tossed carelessly away. Jesse needed to be able to hear him and make sure things were alright, after all. Instead, he folded it up and put it on the nightstand, Gabriel had four canisters in his arms as he turned around, quirking a brow when their eyes met.

“Just… Like having my shirt within easy reach?” Jack offered weakly as he shrugged his shoulders but Gabriel just nodded his head in easy acceptance as he walked over to the bed and placed the canisters onto it next to Jack. 

“Sounds fair, I guess.” Gabriel replied as he started untying his tie from his neck before pausing for a moment and looking back at Jack curiously. “Um… Is this okay?”

Now Jack was quirking a brow as he looked at Gabriel quizzically. “What?”

Gabriel was holding his tie in his hand before gesturing to his white suit. “My outfit. Is it alright if I just take it off and port to my ship real quick to put it away?” He asked sheepishly as he brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “I know that humans enjoy taking of their partner’s clothes before they consummate their relationships but I’d rather not tear my favorite suit after we leave the hotel here to go to your place.” Gabriel informs him, again, giving away important information about himself without anything of worth to gain but Jack’s trust and affection by being honest.

Jack smiles warmly before getting up and walking over to the closet to grab the suit travel bag hanging from one of the hangers then heading back to the bed to lay it down. He unzipped the flaps with ease before turning back to Gabriel and smirking in amusement as he sensually runs two fingers down the front of Gabriel’s smooth suit while pressing himself up against his side. Gabriel watched Jack intently as he slid his fingers down his suit, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard at Jack’s flirtatious behavior and very much seeming to enjoy the attention.

“Who said I couldn’t help you undress before we send you back to your ship to get a more disposable outfit?” Jack offered suggestively as he wrapped one arm around Gabriel’s waist in a coy manner to pull him in close with a wicked grin on his lips.

“Yes, please.” Gabriel practically whimpered, his lips pressed so firmly together that Jack thought it was adorable as he leaned in to kiss Gabriel again, running his free hand through Gabriel’s long, salt and pepper hair affectionately. It felt so nice to feel just raking his nails over Gabriel’s scalp, feeling him practically sigh against his lips as Jack moved the hand he had on Gabriel’s waist down to his ass, squeezing it firmly in his palm. 

Jack smiled as he pulled his lips away from Gabriel’s, shifting over to he was in front of him and brought his hands to gently pull the tuxedo jacket of Gabriel’s shoulder, handling it with a lot of care as he turned back around to the bed and placed it on the hanger before smoothing it out. Gabriel was right behind him then, smooth hand running over Jack’s bare shoulder, working the tired muscles beneath them slowly with every hypnotic roll of his fingers over them. 

“Mmm.” 

“Feel nice?” Gabriel asked curiously as he let out an amused chuckle.

Jack let his eyes close and his upper body hanging loose as he leaned forward, his body rocking back and forth with each circle Gabriel made with his hands on his shoulders. It felt so good and honestly very intimate that Gabriel felt like giving him a spur-of-the-moment massage but he snapped out of letting Gabriel work him over when his eyes opened and glanced at the canisters on the bed. Gabriel was still in pain from just trying to look human passing and the rest of himself was in those canisters. Jack turned around and gently took Gabriel’s hands off his shoulders and held them in front of himself.

“Not as nice as it’s going to feel once you’re back to your large and handsome self, Gabe.” He chuckled fondly, bringing Gabriel’s hands to his lips to press loving kisses to Gabriel’s hands before gently releasing them. 

Gabriel smiled pleasantly at that compliment, making joy bubble in Jack’s chest as he went to work of removing the rest of Gabriel’s clothes without making a game of it. Jack could certainly toy around with Gabriel once he was actually comfortable and his whole self. Once the whole outfit was hung safely on the hanger, pants, tie, belt and all, Gabriel walked out of the room in just his blue boxers and socks to go retrieve his shoes by the front door while Jack zipped it all up. Gabriel seemed relieved to be out of his outfit, his movements becoming rather shaky as he no doubt was closer to reaching the breaking point of how much pain he could tolerate when he came back into the room with his shoes. Jack watched Gabriel then set the shoes down to pull off his socks, stuffing them into the depths of his shoes before walking over to the bed to pick up the first canister while Jack sat down on the bed, the suit bag draped over his lap as he watched Gabriel twist off the first canister fully unlike that little stream he showed him on the beach.

Black smoke poured out of the canister’s openings on the sides like a tactical smoke grenade would, the white ceiling become a light grey as the nanites clung to it while Gabriel casually set the emptied canister by his shoes, catching the next one Jack tossed over to him. Gabriel continued the process releasing black smoke after black smoke into the air until he finally set the forth can down, taking several steps back from his items on the floor before looking at Jack nervously. 

“Come on, Gabe. I can only handle so much anticipation!” Jack reassured him with an honest-to-god smile that had Gabriel looking away and covering his mouth to hide the equally stupid smile on his face. 

“Shut up!” 

“Awww! You’re blushing!” Jack grinned from ear-to-ear as he watched Gabriel practically pout at him in response.

“Now I’m getting performance anxiety! It’s all your fault, Jackass!”

Jack had a smug grin on his face as he watched Gabriel turn around, keeping quiet so he could focus and work his magic on the nanites thickly caking the ceiling above them. The clouds started shifting in the air, slowly spiraling downwards onto Gabriel as he took a very slow and deep breath. It flowed into his skin, slowly bulking up his build, making Gabriel double over with his hands on the ground as he continued to take in the miasma with no signs of slowing down. Jack watched in amazement as Gabriel’s hair was absorbed back into his scalp, the whites of his shoulder armor growing into place along with the insane mass of his shoulders expanding and filling out. He would have been terrified if Gabriel hadn’t shown him that little demo on the beach earlier and knew that this was going to make him feel so much better than being stuck in a slimmer form.

Bones and cartilage cracked and was answered not with a pained scream but with a deep, guttural sigh of relief as his body snapped itself back to the way it should always be - the one that makes Gabriel the most comfortable, regardless of how much it limits their ideal dating locations. Sharp talons flexed and gently ran over the tile floor under him, brown skin turning to the firm black flesh Jack found himself anxious to touch once more as more patches of armor lined their way down Reaper’s back. The black clouds were all but completely gone when Gabriel did not seem to grow any more from the little bits he took in before standing up on two stubby legs and pressing his fists into his lower back to pop the vertebrae there, making Jack jealous from how good it must have felt, especially with that content sigh Gabriel let out at the end. 

Jack was smiling as he watched Gabriel turn around, a familiar, elongated face with a bone mask on top, and vibrant red eyes looking at him while he dropped back down to all fours. “Feeling spry?” He asked in amusement as Gabriel rolled his red eyes, leaning downwards to the floor to stretch himself out like a cat would.

“Mmmmm! Not quite yet.” Gabriel answered before stepping forward to stretch out his back legs. “ Nnnfhh! I’m so goddamn stiff! I’m getting too old for this shit.” He groaned in complaint, making Jack feel pretty damn bad for being the reason Gabriel had to pull himself apart even though Jack knew he wasn’t trying to guilt trip him.

“Maybe you can take something for pain when you’re on your ship?” Jack offered, watching the hetantan continued to do floor stretches to the best of his ability with his shoulder armor occasionally limiting how far he could go with a certain stretch. It would be kind of amusing watching a massive, muscle-bound alien stretching himself if he wasn’t suffering from immense pain and trying to get some relief.

“Yeah. You think you can give me ten minutes to get what I need from the ship?” Gabriel asked as he rolled back over onto four legs, looking over at Jack. Jack felt his heart swell seeing Gabriel a lot more comfortable and nodded his head.

“Sure thing. Take your time.” Jack grinned, holding out the suit bag for Gabriel to take when he stood up on two legs to take the hook with his claws and held it up so the bag could hang properly, using the other hand to pick up his shoes.

“I’ll be back then.” Gabriel waved before the familiar signs of his shadow step whirled around himself shortly before he vanished without a trace in the room

Jack smiled to himself before reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone and give Jesse a proper head’s up one what he was about to do. It would be better than letting them just guess from what the bug could pick up, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EGGS??? WHERE IS EGGS?????????
> 
>  
> 
> Leave REVIEW???


	5. I promise we're almost there

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel is full of surprises and Jack learns that first hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, this is a long chapter.

Gabriel popped back ten minutes on the dot, Jack laying back on the pillow with all of his clothing off and folded on the nightstand. His red business shirt was on top of the pile and facing the bed like Jesse instructed him to. Jack looked up as he hear the light clicking of talons on tile and grinned in amusement as he saw Gabriel staring at him in awe. Gabriel's mouth promptly snapped shut as he realized he was staring and walked over on two legs with a cheap gym bag in tow that looked more like a purse with how small it was in comparison to Gabriel's bulk.

“Sorry that I took so long, Jackie.” Gabriel apologized, setting his bag on the bed to fetch out a cylinder bottle of blue colored lubricant along with a literal wallet-sized tin foil square that was probably a hetantan condom. 

The bulge in the center of the package had Jack’s keen interest, rather liking the idea of being fucked by the thick cock of his sweet hetantan. Jack’s flaccid dick rose slowly in interest as well, Gabriel not helping by carefully slipping out of his boxers, likely forgetting he was wearing them or wanted to be decent when switching back from human to hetantan earlier. There wasn't anything but smooth, black skin there, Jack mentally ridiculing himself because Gabriel didn't wear clothes for the other two dates either and had been expecting something that was never there in the first place!

“No, no!” Jack chuckled as he hand waved Gabriel's concern about his trip back to his ship. He then leaned over to the empty nightstand on his right to set his phone down on before resting one hand on his abdomen casually and using the other one to pat the empty side of the bed Gabriel was standing near. “Used the time you were away to tell the boss about our change in plans. They just want me back at the hotel, safe and sound, at midnight at the latest.” Jack smiled reassuringly.

Gabriel nodded his head, and gave Jack his usual, wayyy too toothy grin of confidence as he climbed up onto the bed on all fours, this bed frame significantly stronger than the one in the dingy hotel room they ended up in on their first date. It still groaned lightly but not like the other one since that one was pretty much going to collapse if Gabriel sat down on it too hard. Gabriel laid down on his side, facing Jack with adoration in his red eyes. The dip in the bed from Gabriel's weight had Jack sliding over into Gabriel, both of them chuckling from the way even gravity wanted them together.

“‘Midnight’, huh? That’s about six hours, give or take.” Gabriel spoke as he brought a clawed hand up to affectionately run through Jack’s hair as he propped up his head with his free hand in a lazy manner. “Plenty of time to take it slow. Maybe get a nap or two between the fun.”

Jack smiled as he folded his hands behind his head, enjoying the feeling of razor sharp talons gently running over his scalp while Gabriel’s deep voice helped him melt further into the super comfortable mattress. “What sort of ‘fun’ are you thinking of? You know, just to make sure we’re on the same wavelength and all.” He smiled, knowing very well what they were going to do but wanted to hear Gabriel say it with that husky voice of his.

Gabriel chuckled in amusement at Jack’s obvious intention with that one. “Whatever you’re comfortable with is as far as we’ll go. I certainly don't mind receiving, if you worry you’ll be the only one with junk up his ass tonight.” He offered easily, making Jack crack open an eye as he looked at Gabriel suspiciously.

“...Really?”

“Yep. Figured it would be better if I didn't beat around the bush in my likes if you’re just assuming a big guy like me only likes giving.” Gabriel shrugged, moving the hand scratching Jack’s scalp down to Jack’s cheek to gently cup the side of his face. “You’re more handsome with those scars on your face, you know?” Impulsively remarked as he sucked in a shallow breath. 

Jack felt his stomach do somersaults at that, his eyes widening before he felt a bashful smile curve his lips upward. “Shame I didn't get them on the job or something. Might have made them more sexier.” He chuckled sheepishly, not really sure why Gabriel would find a surgical scar from his face melting off would be attractive.

“Jackie. Oh, Jackie.” Gabriel frowned as he leaned forward, mindful of his bone mask and the thin lips lining over his very sharp teeth, to do his best to press kisses to those prominent pink scar. Literally showering Jack’s face in a display of adoration for the silver-haired man he loved. He pulled back to see a visibly confused Jack looking at him, the man unsure of what brought of the sudden surge of affection. “Jackie. You know why scars are considered a sign of masculinity? It’s not what your job was or ever where you were when you got them but it's a strong sign of survival. Your body told that drug to fuck off, even if you needed a hospital and a team of medical professionals to help you survive it. You’re a damned good survivor and I find that sexy as fuck, understand?” Gabriel smiled warmly, leaning forward so they were pressed chest to chest, his arm moving to hold Jack closed to him as they laid on their sides together.

Jack frowned, curling up against Gabriel's body as Gabe set his chin on top of Jack’s head. He ruined the light atmosphere by accidentally making his discomfort with his episode in the hospital apparent enough. This wasn’t what Jack wanted to do with the time they had together by wallowing in self-pity and brought his arm up and over Gabriel’s waist to pull himself closer to him. “Thanks, I guess. It’s just really hard to think of myself as surviving when it feels like I’m going to continue to fall apart. I know you’re trying to make me feel better and, I’ll be honest, I’m happy that you find me attractive even though I’ve fallen quite a bit from the blonde that did shots with you on our first date.” He felt himself smile slightly as he nuzzled his rose in between Gabriel’s collar bones. 

Gabriel hummed softly, gently using his knuckles to rub Jack’s back with the arm he had draped over his side. “Who’s to say I don’t have a soft spot for silver-haired smartasses, Jack? My tastes can evolve once I’ve found I like a certain thing once exposed to it.” He chuckled reassuringly. “Never much found humans or humanoids attractive until I went to a strip club that had have a few workers that treated me nicely. Also, maybe I will always find you attractive, Jack Morrison, ever thought about that?” 

Jack rolled his eyes at that but felt himself smile anyways. It was nice knowing that Gabe found him handsome even though that was kind of obvious at the beach, in hindsight. He found himself grinning as he remember the way Gabriel blatantly ogled his chest and how reluctant the hetantan was to engage with him. Maybe he honestly did still have sexiness on his side, regardless of what happened. It could be what has Jack’s heart pounding in his chest as he really starts to believe that maybe he doesn’t have to feel so ashamed about how he looks, even if the problems on the inside were still a concern in the back of his mind.

He found himself inspired and confident in that moment, lightly pushing Gabriel onto his back before slipping one leg sensually across the hetantan’s waist to straddle him. Jack arched his back to push his chest forward and into his palms looking down at the larger humanoid under him with a smug grin. Gabriel looked up at him in genuine awe, probably a bit confused at the sudden tone shift in Jack, but seemed very pleased as his usually small red eyes were now large with intense interest.

“Well… This is not something I envisioned happening but, hell, I find it to be a very appealing progression.” Gabriel purred up at him, his clawed hands hanging in the air and hesitant on touching Jack’s body.

“You DID say you wanted to bottom at some point…” Jack teased as he leaned forward, pressing his hands to Gabriel’s pectorals to support himself and let his lips gently rub against the hetantan’s own thin set carefully. He watched Gabriel hum softly in approval, eyes half-lidded as he relaxed and slowly mimicked the action of rubbing his lips against Jack’s, probably unaware that this was Jack actually teasing him and thinking that it might be some form of uncommon affectionate human gestures. Jack found himself restraining the urge to coo and tease his lover but instead going with the flow and putting more of his heart into the delicate brushing of their lips. It was so sweet and intimate that Jack had no desire to bring up that this was ‘incorrect’ whatsoever to his partner, especially with the deep purrs coming from Gabriel’s throat in response.

“This is really nice…” Gabriel murmured up at Jack, the both of them pausing in their brushing when Gabriel slightly pulled back to talk. He looked adorably blissed out, probably not aware that his clawed hands came up and gently started to graze Jack’s back. 

Jack chuckled and let out a pleased sigh as Gabriel was incredible careful with with his claws, barely doing more than tickling Jack’s skin regardless of how sharp they were. “You act like we already finished the main act, Gabe.” He teased playfully, leaning forward and oh-so-gently nipping his way down Gabriel’s jaw, drawing a deeper purr from the hetantan’s throat.

“Mmm…”

“You’re so damn out of it, Gabe. You’re like a cat with all of this purring.” He grinned as he moved over to Gabriel’s ear and took it into his hot mouth to nibble on it.

Gabriel paused at that, his purring dropping dramatically as Jack flicked his tongue at the flesh he had trapped gently between his lips. Jack was quite sure what caused Gabe’s motor to suddenly putter out and traced the backside of the ear with his tongue experimentally to see if it would feel erotic to the hetantan. 

“My ears don’t get that dirty if you’re wondering, Jackie…” Gabriel chuckled nervously. “I mean, I’m not opposed to a grooming sess-”

Jack released the bit of Gabe’s ear he had in his mouth and felt his face burn in embarrassment. “I-I wasn’t trying-! That doesn’t turn you on...?” He asked hesitantly, having no idea that the physical contact was grooming more so than an erotic gesture of affection.

Gabriel frowned for a moment before his eyes blew wide open in realization. “I-! Of course-! Hah hah…! Ahhh!”

“Yeah. No. Let’s not play that game and just move on.” Jack practically deadpanned as he held his hand up to stop Gabriel in his tracks. If the hetantan was able to pout Jack was pretty that was what he was doing based on how conflicted Gabriel looked. It made Jack smile to be with someone so blatantly honest, and he understood how confused Gabriel was as he quirked his brow at Jack for smiling in this awkward situation. “Don’t give me that look, Gabe. I’m just glad you’re honest with me instead of truly putting on an act to indulge me.” He grinned as he sat up and looked down at Gabriel. “I want to make you feel good.”

“Is it wrong to say that I feel good just having you on me and eager?”

Jack felt himself brighten at that, Gabriel lips curling upwards and his eyes full of warmth in response. He found himself leaning forward and brushing his lips against Gabriel’s again, humming happily, especially when Gabriel’s talons trailed upwards together and gently massaged his scalp. This was an amazing feeling between them, blissful happiness. While many of Jack’s problems could not be solved by having a loving partner, the support Gabriel showed him certainly helped alleviate the despair that threatened to crush him at times.

“I don’t think I-” can turn you in.

Jack cut himself off before he could say that, his bliss and desire to reassure his partner strangled in his throat as he remembered the bug that laid so close to the bed. 

Jesse never mentioned once about Jack’s fate after this night. They talked casually about the whole thing and Jesse just laughed off Jack’s nervousness about telling him flat out about their plans in Gabriel’s room. A voice in the back of his mind reminded him about the last time that happened, back in the van when they were leaving the scene of the hotel on the first date. About how casual Jesse was about the hospital having everything ready to treat the side effects of the sobriety drug pumped into him. 

What if Jesse were forced to act if Jack said something outwardly as stupid like what he was about to say? He had to be more careful. He had to protect both himself and Gabriel.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll fit just fine inside me, Jackie. You don’t have to be so modest.” Gabriel teased, thinking his hesitance was a sign of sheepishness rather than cold dread. Jack felt himself relax at that and smiled warmly down at his lover.

“You’re really eager for me to fuck you, huh?” Jack chuckled, leaning back down and ignoring the mishap with Gabriel’s ear to slowly roll his tongue up the side of Gabriel’s neck. He grinned when he felt Gabriel roll his hips in synchronization with his tongue moving upwards from the bottom of his neck to just below the hetantan’s jaw. The deep purrs came back as Gabriel took a sharp inhale at the sensation, the talons lightly balling up in Jack’s silver hair.

“Yes.” Gabriel purred, gently rolling his hips to show that he had no shame in letting Jack know that. “Please…”

Jack nipped the flesh of Gabriel’s neck in response, muffling his moan from feeling Gabriel’s smooth pelvis press up against Jack’s fully erect penis. His cock was throbbing, a bead of precum dripping down from the tip to the hetantan’s pelvis below, smearing against Jack’s head as Gabriel continued to grind himself against Jack shamelessly. The pressure and friction felt so nice, even better being Gabriel’s occasion gasp when Jack bit down more firmly onto Gabe’s neck to draw those strangles sounds from his throat and receive a firm buck from under him as well.

Jack pulled back, panting lightly and his tip leaking precum from how goddamn sexy it was to have Gabriel a mess under him when he could snap Jack in two so easily. Red eyes looked up at him in reverence and Jack felt that heat go straight down to his cock, it lightly lifting from the pulse of want that ran through Jack.

He moved downward after leaning back down to continue to frustrate the hetantan under him, two rather large perky nipples were erect and waiting to be teased on Gabriel’s chest. Jack slid himself down to lay on Gabriel’s body and pushed himself downward so he was face to face with his prize. Gabriel shuddered under him as Jack let out a breath of hot air over them, wondering if this erogenous zone for humans would work for hetantans as well. Said hetantan’s response made most signs point to yes especially when Gabriel was watching him with half-lidded eyes.

Just to tease him further, Jack used both of his index fingers to lazily trace circles around the nipples without touching them. “You know, you’re not the only one who has a thing for nice pecs, Gabe.” He grinned before sensually licking his lips to moisten them while Gabriel’s purr got choppy, less smooth, rolling motor and more poppiness to it.

“Says the guy who would look amazing in a bra…” Gabriel responded with a shaky breath. His hips lightly rolling against Jack’s pelvis, probably to encourage him to get on with it without saying anything.

Jack was flattered at the comment, he had thought about investing in such garments many times in the past but didn’t see a need to do so until now. Fulfilling a partner’s fantasy would be the biggest ego stroke…

He put that thought aside for now and used both of his index finger and thumb pads to squeeze down firmly on Gabriel’s drawing an actual moan from the hetantan while he closed his eyes in bliss, shifting under Jack for more contact. Jack felt his dick pulse from that and leaned forward to replace his finger on Gabe’s left nipple with his mouth, firmly securing it with his lip before giving it a tight suck. Gabriel arched his back and sucked in a deep breath that pushed his chest closer to Jack’s mouth.

Jack became aware of a wetness suddenly spreading against his right thigh, the one wedged to part Gabriel’s legs. He ignored it, as much as he really wanted to look down and see what was going on down there, and focused on torturing Gabriel by keeping a light, but consistent pressure on his left nipple with his mouth. Jack’s right hand pinched the nipple firmly, the differences in pressure making Gabriel let out strangled gasps and bucking his hips upward against Jack more firmly.

“Please…!” Gabriel whimpered, making Jack almost lose his hold with his mouth on the tip as he resisted the urge to smile. 

He sucked down firmly on the nipple and pulled his head upwards slightly, pulling on it before he released it with a pop of his lips. Jack’s left hand came back up to grope and fondle the smooth pectoral, using his thumb to trace the subtle curves of it while lightening the pressure on the right nipple as he chuckled teasingly. “You all ready for me to fuck you, Gabe? Only after this much teasing?” Jack asked with a smug grin on his face as he used both hands to just grope the pectorals firmly and receive a sudden buck up against his body in return.

The purrs were sloppy and all over the place in terms of consistency in the vibration pattern but it had Jack so hard that it was almost painful. Hetantan might not be very vocal, in terms like humans expect, but good lord was that purr the best indicator of how wrecked Gabriel was getting under Jack’s teasing. Such a powerful and feared criminal was a horny mess under a simple human male. Jack was indeed a leaking mess and so ready to fuck Gabriel if he told him he was really ready.

“Fuck me, Jack…!” Gabriel begged and Jack pushed himself up to go back up to where he was straddling Gabriel’s hips before. Jack then leaned over to pepper affectionate kisses to Gabriel’s lips and the bone mask on Gabriel’s face since he had much better access to it now. Gabriel’s eyes closed as he relaxed from the affection Jack was giving him, making Jack’s heart squeeze almost painful from how much he loved this hetantan.

When he was done, Jack pulled slowly away and watched as Gabriel slowly opened his eyes and looked at him. All that mutual adoration in his red eyes as he ran his clawed hands through Jack’s hair delicate to smooth it out before returning them to his sides on the bed. “Want some guidance or…?” Gabriel practically mumbled, making Jack grin at how helpful he still wanted to be when Jack should have been brushing up more on his lover’s alien anatomy.

“Please.”

Gabriel nodded his head. “Can you sit down between my legs then? I’ll show you how to please a hetantan.”

Jack felt himself snicker a bit at how cheesy that was but complied as he slid off Gabriel and crawled his way around Gabriel’s legs glancing over his shoulders to see his idiot openly ogling his ass. He would tease him later for that one but kneeled down between Gabriel’s leg like he was instructed to do, waiting for his lover to instruct him in the art of hetantan love making. Jack noticed the wet spot from earlier, it was a large slit in Gabriel’s lower pelvic region that certainly wasn’t there before. He could see two dark purple tips, the top one smaller than the bottom ones barely peeking out on top of one another inside the slit. They were both rounded like Jack’s own penis tip but the bottom one was a bit lumpy and with ‘x’ for a slit instead of the usual one line. Hell, it looked like the lines went from the tip of the penis head all the way to where it ended on the side - probably the ovipositor.

“Yeah, our sexual organs are internal rather than external like humans.” Gabriel remarked as he sat up on his elbows, reaching with one hand to grab the lubricant bottle that was laying up under his arm.

Jack realized he was staring before quickly looking up at Gabriel. “Oh. Does that mean I didn’t arouse you enough for them to come out the whole way?” He asked curiously as he watched Gabriel tap a button on the side of the lubricant container to make a tip protrude out and then poured some of the light blue lubricant into his palm before tossing the bottle over to Jack to catch.

Gabriel laid back down against the mattress as he rubbed his palms together to warm the lubricant before spreading the slickness to his talons. “Nah… I’m just kind of nervous.” He confessed before spreading his legs apart more, his feet planted firmly on the bed as he reached down with his lubricated hand. Gabriel used two clawed fingers to carefully spread his folds, the other hand reaching down between the two penis head carefully working a lubricated digit into himself. “Between the two penises is a deep pocket filled with a lot of nerves.” Gabriel curled his toes as his two penises slowly came out with ever encouraging pump of his finger inside of himself. 

Jack felt himself getting harder than a rock watching Gabriel move his claw in and out of himself, the two penises looking more pear-shaped the further glossy cocks came out from the folds. Both of the heads still angled toward each other in the center, meaning Jack could easily see himself taking both of them assuming he had enough prep to widen himself out for them but might be unable to take them fully past the center where their girth widened considerably. Jack felt himself rocking back and forth on his heel, nipping his lower lips when his heel caught his anus while he pulled away. Beads of precum rolling down from Jack tip all the way down his length as it bobbed at the sight of Gabriel touching himself.

“Let me?” Jack breathed, wanting to do something to distract himself from his own impulses to stroke and finger himself. Gabriel pulled his hand away from the hole he was touching, a string of his own body’s natural lubricant hanging from his black claw that Jack resisted the urge to suck on. Gabriel's needs would come first before they get to his own.

“Sure, Jackie…” Gabriel consented, moving his freehand to his side to grip the sheets under him. “Don't be afraid to be rough.” 

Jack chuckled at that. “Don't worry, I won't hold back with you, Gabe.” He promised, giving his hetantan a warm smiled before reaching down with his dominant hand, ignoring the two glistening penises to dip into the root between them, his index finger feeling the smooth leather surface absolutely warm and wet for him. Gabriel let out a relaxed sigh as Jack traced the walls, his finger not long enough to reach the end of the gap but that certainly wasn't his goal when he slipped his middle finger to start prodding around from top to bottom.

“Mmm. A bit lower…!” Gabriel’s legs shifted on either side of Jack as he continued to feel up his partner, wanting to really get Gabe going wild for him. Jack made slow, wide circles with his fingers as he followed Gabriel’s verbal guidance, his hand bumping up against the ones Gabriel was using to keep the flaps open for Jack. The hetantan’s legs suddenly pushed and pulled back as Jack fingers brushed over a rigged patch of bumps, sparking a whimper to come from Gabriel's throat.

Jackpot.

“Well, that’s rather straightforward erogenous spot.” Jack smirked in amusement.

“Shut up, Morrison.” Gabriel groaned, pressing himself down on Jack’s hand to get his fingers to brush over that spot once more. Jack couldn't stop himself from smiling as he pulled his hand back when Gabriel tried to push down, his fingers staying on the slick walls and hovering so close to those nerve endings. “You fucker…!” He growled in frustration as he gripped the sheets in his fist.

“Ever heard of ‘patience’, Gabe? We have six hours for me to find all these sweet spots on your body.” Jack purred playfully while Gabriel just let his head fall back against the bed as he let out a sigh. 

“Please don't edge me for six hours, Jack. That has to be illegal.” Gabriel grumbled, drawing a fond chuckle from Jack in response.

“Maybe if I had some tools to properly restrain you then I would consider doing so.”

“Pfft. Sure thing, Sunshine. ‘Properly restraining’ me is a joke and you know it.” He gloated, seizing up when Jack casually tapped his nerve bundle three times rapidly without giving any real weight to the touch to frustrate the hetantan as his legs squirmed.

“Something tells me that you wouldn’t want to escape your restraints if it was for fun, Gabe.” He teased playfully before removing his finger and using the lubricant over his finger to stroke his cock with it. “Also, how comfortable are you with me not using a condom? I don’t have any on me but I guess I could go downstairs and ask-”

“No. I want you to cum inside me. I’m clean.”

Jack smiled at that, taking Gabriel’s words as the truth, before hooking an arm under each of Gabriel’s knees and placing them on his shoulders. “You’ll let me know if I could be doing something better to please you during this, right?”

“Please just fuck me already, Jack!” Gabriel groaned, Jack letting out a little chuckle before reaching down to grasp Gabriel’s top penis, lightly wiggling it sit to side to see how much give it would have and was surprised by how flexible it was. “Yeah, mmmm, the bottom one is more rigid, just push the top one to the side and slide right in.” He advised Jack, watching with half-lidded eyes as Jack pulled the top one to the side, before guiding his cock into the pocket.

Jack sucked in a breath through his teeth as how wet and warm it was along with the foreign sensation of his cock brushing against the internal bases of both of Gabriel’s penises. The bulbs of them sandwiching Jack’s cock was what created the tightness Jack found absolutely amazing as his head brushed past them to dip into the slick pocket where the penises occupied when they were not in use. It was a sensation that had Jack wrapping his arms around the bulk of Gabe’s meaty thighs as he slowly pushed and pulled himself out slowly to get used to everything.

Gabriel was wreathing, his abdomen pushing upwards off the bed as Jack watch in fascination as the hetantan dug his talons literally into the mattress, through the bedsheets and all, with such a light grip. It made Jack realize just how mentally aware Gabriel had to be of what he was doing with Jack, especially when it came to something as delicate as love making and wanting to hold his partner. Jack smiled to himself as he watched Gabriel’s head press back against the mattress, looking so sexually appealing as Jack kept the pace nice and slow. 

“You know, I’ve never exactly been into big guys like you before, Gabe. Now, I clearly see what a mistake that was cause holy shit you are beautiful.” Jack breathed as he rocked his hips lazily, his nails raking slowing up from the top of Gabriel’s thighs to his mid thighs, drawing a moan from his lover while he shudder from the contact. 

“S-shut up, Jack.” Gabriel stammered rocking his hips in time with Jack to get him to fuck into him more firmly, wanting those nerve patches to so badly be brushed up against by his cock.

“Aw, does no one ever tell you what a wet dream you are?” 

“I’m- umf! S-Serious!” Gabriel gritted his teeth in frustration.

“So am I!” Jack smiled happily before gripping Gabriel’s thighs firmly before leaning forward, fucking Gabriel in earnest as he gazed down at their cocks, enjoying the way Gabriel’s upper cock bounced up and down against his abdomen. It was erect but nearly boneless while the second one slid under Jack, rubbing back and forth against his ballsack in such an arousing fashion that had Jack’s dick throbbing hard from how electrifying it felt. So many different areas on Jack stimulated in ways he never experienced before. He found himself quickly rushing towards his orgasm, needing the respite a position change would bring him or just shamelessly blow his load into Gabriel under two minutes.

“Gabe, I’m close…!” Jack grunted, not even having to fucking him hard or fast to reach his own orgasm for once in his life. 

“Pull out and lie down on your back.” Gabriel advised, Jack complying really quick to do just that and saving his own dignity, laying down on his back while Gabriel got up and somehow managed to straddle Jack’s waist, though it was more of his lower torso than anything else. Gabriel had a smug grin on his face, far too many teeth in a smile too wide that would probably be nightmare-inducing if Jack didn’t know Gabriel like he did. It was a cocky ass smile that Reaper got when he foiled galaxial police/bounty hunter’s plans, meaning Gabriel wanted this position switch to happen. “Never thought you were a ‘sixty second’ type of man, Jackie.” Gabriel teased as he he reached down between them, carefully guiding Jack’s cock between the bulbous base of his two cocks and slowly lowering himself down onto Jack. 

Jack moved his hands to Gabriel’s thighs, gripping them hard as the sonova bitch intentional ground himself up and down against Jack’s tip between the base of his penises. Precum was rolling down from Jack’s head from how the concentrated friction was driving him mad and he could find any position to put his limbs in that would help him find relief from the stimulation. Gabriel kept a firm but careful hold on the base of Jack’s penis as he continued to slow move himself up and down, watching Jack’s fluctuating expression of helplessness fuel his desire to tease him further.

“So, I take it no one has really toyed with you before, Jack? Don’t worry. I plan on blowing your mind and your nuts several times tonight.”

A black tendril slipped out from his back, just like in the recording on Gabriel’s phone, and swerved its way downwards so the pointed tip was delicately tracing circles onto Jack’s chest. Jack found his gaze locked onto the tendril, unsure if it was really there as Gabriel paused his hip moment, Jack delirious as the top of his head barely pressed against the twin bases that he wanted to be pushed through again. Gabriel was going to edge him, there was no way he wouldn’t take joy in dragging Jack’s first orgasm out for as long as possible if he was going to be the one controlling the pace.

“I have a few spare appendages that would be interested in playing with you, Jackie, but, I’m not going to use them if you find it uncomforta-”

“Fuck, please!” Jack practically begged, sweat rolling down his body and eyes half-lidded in lust as he bucked his hips upwards, drawing a moan from both of them when Jack’s tip speared through the bulbs of Gabriel’s penises before pulling back out just as quickly. “Gabe…!” He rolled his hips and frantically balled the sheets into his fists while his heels tried to find leverage for something, even if he was resisting the urge to thrust vigorously up against his lover.

Gabriel shuddered visibly, sucking in a breath through his teeth as he looked down at how enthusiastic Jack was for more from him. Three more tendrils sprouted out through the hetantan’s back slipping down to pin each of Jack’s limbs down to the bed gently but with enough weight to keep them from moving. “You have no idea how much that turns me on, Jackie.” Gabriel admitted with a shaky breath, groaning as one more tendril came out and slipped up the bed to gently wipe the sweat away from Jack’s face as they both locked eyes with each other in a moment of tenderness. 

Jack let out a shaky laugh at that as he looked at Gabriel through half-lidded eyes. “Consent for kinky acts turn you on, Big Guy?”

“I’m a big fan of ‘yes’, if you really want me to say it.” Gabriel replied before lowering himself fully to take Jack’s cock all the way into the pocket, both males letting out enthusiastic groans as they clenched their eyes shut from how good it felt.

Gabriel smirked as he leaned backward, resting his weight on his arms behind him on the bed as he rolled his hip, the walls of the pocket unable to squeeze Jack alone but that didn’t stop Gabriel from pulling out another surprise. When Gabriel took a sharp breath inward, he retracted both of his penises, the sudden pressure overwhelming as it tossed Jack through the ringer and forcing his penis out of the pocket as they took up the space. Jack came hard, grunting and straining as Gabriel grinded up and down against Jack’s length as he pinned it to Jack’s stomach, cum being shot out of him onto Gabriel’s wet slit and his own abdomen. Gabriel continued to ride him, taking Jack to the brink of overstimulation before pausing to look down at his equally hard panting partner.

Jack was in a daze, confused at what the hell Gabriel did and how smug the fucker looked. A giant, muscular, moron that was chock full of surprises that Jack was head-over-heels stupid in love with as he felt like jello against the mattress. Wasn’t HE suppose to be pleasing Gabriel and not the other way around? 

“You’re a cheating asshole, you know that?” Jack huffed up at his partner as he watched Gabriel dismount his waist, the tendrils releasing their hold over his body before slipping back into his skin like they were never there.

“Making me cum too early would pretty much ruin the night, Jackie.” He replied simply, sitting down next to Jack while he recovered and helping him come down from the afterglow gracefully by brushing off the sweat on his face with his hand. Gabriel then leaned over and pressed his lips to Jack’s forehead, brushing them back and forth as he started purring affectionately for his sweetheart. “Want me to get something to clean you off with?” He offered.

Jack nodded his head. “Please. Maybe some water too?”

Gabriel nodded his head and slipped off the bed, the mattress lifting back up with the hetantan’s weight now absent from it. Both of them paused to glance at the seemingly reinflating mattress, Gabriel quickly glancing away in what had to be embarrassment after he made eye contact with Jack. “Right. Towel. Water. On it.” He went down on all fours as he quickly retreated from the bedroom, leaving Jack chuckling fondly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eggs next chapter. I promise. I wanted to show that Gabe enjoys being on the bottom too and also explore sex with alien anatomy before we get to the eggies. Please leave a review and also how you like your eggs prepared (ex: sunny-side up?)!


	6. Eggs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggs happen! 
> 
> Ovi and Mpreg warning!

After Jack and Gabriel wiped down each other with the warm, wet hand towel, they each chugged back a glass of ice water before placing them both on the nightstand with Jack’s phone. They then took the opportunity to snuggle under the thin covers, regardless of the holes Gabriel accidentally tore into them and the mattress, felt just right. Jack resisted the urge to doze off as he rested under Gabriel's chin, the hetantan purring contently as he lazily draped an arm over Jack’s waist. 

Jack felt a goofy smile spread on his lips as he realized how much he loved Gabriel and just relaxing with him on the bed. It was disgustingly domestic and something he never really figured himself enjoying with a partner. Maybe it was because he hadn't come across the right one until two months ago?

“Jackie?” Gabriel asked quietly, making Jack hum to let Gabriel know he was paying attention. “Alright, well, you remember earlier, back in front of the restaurant, you said that you wanted to do something that would keep me coming back to you, right?” He asked nervously. “Is this what you meant by that? Us consummating our love for one another?”

Jack frowned at that, glad that Gabriel couldn't see his expression twist to one of anguish. He was terrified of rejection at this stage if he were to tell Gabriel of his adoration of his offspring, wanting to help bring more little hetantans into the world, and more importantly, raise them with Gabriel by his side. Especially bad was the fact that it would seem impulsive at best to Gabriel and insensitive at worst to pressure the hetantan like that.

Gabriel would be disgusted with him and probably think he had a disturbing fetish or something if he said flat out that he wanted to get pregnant with him. Jack felt like he was on the brink of throwing up from how bad his anxiety was getting over this whole thing. Honesty was so important to them both, especially with how delicate their relationship between each other was since he was still ‘bait’ to help apprehend Gabriel. Fuck, he didn't want to lose Gabriel! Not like this!

Gabriel was the one who tore Jack from his downward spiraling thoughts by continuing where he left off. “Well… um… the way you phrased it made me think of those cheesy romance scenes in war movies, you know, before the soldier leaves home to go on a suicide mission or something…” His legs shifted nervously but Gabriel didnt seem to be confident enough to pull away from Jack to look at him while he spoke. “Are you… saying that you want children…?”

Jack pulled away from Gabriel, sliding himself upwards to get out from the deep dip in the mattress that pulled him towards Gabriel due to his weight. He looked at Gabriel’s face, watching as Gabriel's red eyes looked at him with genuine uncertainty, making Jack wonder if maybe the hetantan was actually on the same wavelength as him about this. He swallowed nervously, courage flaring up in his chest to compelling him to ask for clarification.

“What if I said that your example might not be far off the mark?” 

Gabriel's eyes widened in surprise but not as much as Jack expected. His reaction was a lot more mild, like he wasn’t entirely shocked that Jack might be interested in that line of thought when he spoke those words in front of the restaurant. 

“I… You want to talk this out together? To make sure we’re on the same page with each other’s expectations?” Gabriel proposed quietly, still skittish but not like before as he looked at Jack expectantly.

Jack felt himself sigh in relief for now. “Sure. We got a few hours.” He joked lightly, making Gabriel chuckle softly.

“Right. ‘A few’.” He shot back sarcastically before sitting up on the bed while Jack followed in suit, the covers over their laps for warmth as they rested their back against the headboard. “Anyways, while I don't mind us only having sex just because we’re super into each other, I’m not too sure how I feel about leaving you with a clutch to raise alone, assuming that’s what you want and I haven't misread your meaning, I mean!” Gabriel quickly added as he held up his palms as if to shield himself from any anger Jack might have had if he misunderstood his intentions.

Jack chuckled and hand waved Gabriel’s concern of sounding too presumptuous, glad that they both felt some form of mutual anxiety over what the other thought. “No, no! It was, actually!” He sheepishly admitted as he brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “I was afraid you would think I had a sick fetish or something, to be honest.”

Now Gabriel was hand waving Jack’s concern in return before dropping his clawed hands to his lap. “Nah. I saw the way you were melting when you were looking at the pictures and video at dinner. It made me think of us in that situation. Your pretty eyes watching the eggs in the incubator, watching them grow the last few months before the little ones hatch. The confusion on your face when they start crawling way too early compared to human little ones-”

Jack had to cut him off as he thrusted a hand in front of Gabriel's smug grin, his face as red as a tomato as he pursed his lips hard together, trying to not smile like an idiot from the images Gabe put in his head. He then took a deep breath to compose himself before looking up at Gabriel with a frown. “You really shouldn't put ideas in my head if you're hesitant about the whole thing, Gabe. It’s kind of cruel.”

The hetantan’s smug grin turned right to a frown as well as he brought a hand up to nervously rub at his arm. “Right… Sorry about that…”

Jack frowned at that before reaching to touch the arm Gabriel was rubbing, making the hetantan look at him. “Do you not think I would be able to raise them right? That I could not find a safe place for us, Gabriel?”

Gabriel looked at Jack for a good moment before his gaze turned downward towards his knees. “I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that you would not be able to find a way through any difficult situation, Jackie. I just want there to be a scenario where I am able to be there with you and that’s just…” He looked back down at his knees as he trailed off.

Jack had a good feeling why Gabriel was lingering on that, remembering the pictures and videos of the first few years he was able to spend with his own offspring before moving on. It had to hurt, denying the fact that he was their father and being on the run to the point where he probably broke contact with his friends to keep them safe along with the kids. Gabriel doesn’t want to be in that situation, he probably wants to settle down and raise his children properly but would be unable to with his bounty being so high. 

It hurt to think of how lonely Gabriel would be and how heavy Jack’s heart would be, knowing that this was probably it between them. They would likely never meet again if only for a brief few hours, if that, were Gabriel able to come see him on the colony he lived on. Though, wouldn’t he be arrested anyways at that point for housing a wanted criminal on the run? Assuming he won’t get fired if rumors of his affections for Gabriel don’t get back to his boss on his home turf. Jack couldn’t afford living there without his job and moving back to his parent’s home was out of the question from how far away it was to move to the colony in the first place even with relocation assistance.

Seriously. If he was fucked then he wanted to be fucked in the way HE wanted to be.

Jack gathered up every ounce of courage he had, standing up on his knees and bracing his hands against Gabriel’s shoulders as he leaned in to whisper into Gabriel’s ear. “Just… come back for me then, alright?”

Gabriel was speechless at that as Jack pulled away slowly to see the hetantan’s face. He was shaken by how much faith Jack had in him before he clamped his eyes shut tightly and shook his head before looking at Jack hesistantly. “I… How can you ask me to leave you with a clutch like this, Jack?” Gabriel asked with a shaky voice, reaching over to gently cup the side of Jack's face. He was trembling and Jack couldn't help but understand how upset he was by that remark.

Gabriel was lonely and found something wonderful in Jack like he did with the hetantan. Jack understood his pain as he pursed his own lips together tightly to try to hold it together. He wouldn't accept those terms either if he were in Gabriel's position but their options were severely limited here. It was either try to come up with a plan to reunite somehow or forget each other for the other’s sake. Option number two was absolutely unacceptable for Jack.

“I know it’s a shit plan but I need to get some things in order back home since I’ll be kicked off the team anyways.” Jack sniffed hard as he felt tears rolling down from the corners of his eyes and over his cheeks to drip onto his thighs. “You don't have to give me anything if you do not want to, Gabe. I just want to know if you’re interested, is all.” He chuckles, trying to make light of such a heavy conversation without jinxing anything.

“Yes.” Gabriel answers firmly, looking Jack in the eyes. “I don't see a problem with that one bit.” 

Jack feels the weight on his chest lift off like a survivor seeing light again after being trapped under rubble. It was such a relief that Jack found himself laughing, laughing from how happy he was that their would be something between them after this date. Gabriel would visit him again when this was all over! Jack couldn't believe it!

Gabriel was holding Jack tightly against him now, probably confused as all hell as to why he was laughing and crying at the same time but fell back to physical affection. Feeling Gabriel brush his lips back and forth through his hair to reassure him just made Jack fall even harder for his sweet hetantan. He really was an angel in all black disguise, that had to be it.

Jack buried his face happily into Gabriel's shoulder, feeling bad that he was wiping his snot and tears directly to his skin but reciprocated the hug by wrapping his arms around to pull his chest into Gabe’s. The hetantan responded with hynotic purrs as Jack began kissing his shoulders, wanting to show his lover how much he appreciated ever thoughtful act of consideration towards Jack - from the flowers he had delivered to Jack in the hospital when he was in a coma, making sure a drink was safe for human consumption to going out of his way and putting himself in immense pain to try to have a luxury ‘human’ date on this planet. No one else would go to such lengths, especially when they knew he was a bait for a police raid, and Jack knew he couldn’t let things end before they even tried.

“I love you a lot, Gabe.” Jack sniffled hard, bringing his hand up Gabriel's back to brush away the tears from his puffy eyes.

“It’s honestly more than I deserve but I’m happy to be in love with you as well, Jackie.” Gabriel murmured soothingly to Jack as he gently rubbed soothing circles into the human’s back. Jack smiled happily into Gabriel's shoulder, feeling Gabriel nuzzle up against the side of his head before just resting there and enjoying the warmth of each other's love for the other in the moment. 

Jack felt safe and secure in Gabriel's arms and he honestly hoped Gabriel felt the same, regardless of his role as bait. They were definitely more than that at this point.

They enjoyed the long quiet moment together before an amusing thought crossed Jack’s mind. “Gabe?” He whispered quietly to his partner, not budging one inch from his comfortable position against Gabriel.

“Hm?” 

“Is it okay that I don't know how to drive space ships? Is it as hard as learning to drift stick shift?”

Gabriel chuckled in amusement at that, making Jack’s heart flutter at how nice it sounded, finding new appreciation for his laugh. “Well, it’s not like we’ll have to worry about you hitting anything while you learn like with a car.”

“You’re joking, right? Doesn't your ship have laser cannons and homing rockets?” 

“Pfft. I can lock any part of the ship I want, Jack, I’ll take you to the space equivalent of an empty parking lot in the middle of nowhere and let you figure out how everything works without worrying about you pushing us into manual hyperdrive.” Gabriel teased playfully, nuzzling against Jack’s head once more before letting out a content sigh.

“That sounds dangerous.” Jack snickered.

“Eh, you’re smart, you’ll asks questions instead of randomly hitting buttons to flush out all the reactor coolant.”

Jack felt a grin spread on his lips at that. “Sounds awfully specific, Gabe.”

Gabriel just casually shrugged his shoulders at the jab. “Like I said, you won't have to worry about shit like that If the only controls I give you are the ability to move the ship forward and backwards.”

“How sweet of you.” Jack spoke sarcastically, receiving a playful swat on his back in return before Gabriel pulled back from Jack so they were just looking at each other.

“Are you sure that you can be happy with me, Jack? I’m not always sunshine and butterflies. You might find aspects of my personality and past unsavory. I honestly think this is a bad gamble, regardless of our enjoyment of each other's company.” Gabriel whispered honestly to Jack, letting him know his fears of this going any further. “You’ll be out on the streets and a wanted criminal yourself for collaborating with me, Jackie.”

Jack wasn't about to back down, not just yet. He wanted to hear about one particular story straight from the horse’s mouth before he could be sure about Gabriel. “What happened on Horizon? If the nanites were in your body and stable, why did you go on a rampage?”

Gabriel's hands on Jack’s shoulders slipped off so they dangled uselessly by his side. “I… Horizon?” He swallowed hard at that, clearly not expecting to be blind-sided by that.

Jack nodded his head, taking care to keep his expression and voice neutral as he talked to him. “Yes. Please, Gabriel.”

Gabriel was being evasive, looking off to the side and becoming rather skeptical of his surroundings, lifting one foot up on the bed as he looked around like he was ready to run at any moment. “I… I thought your place was where I would be abushed.” He nervously commented.

“Hold on, Gabe. The resort isn't where the raid is going to happen.” Jack reassured his partner, taking care to not touch just yet but still reaching towards him in case he wanted the contact.

Gabriel looked back at Jack, unconvinced but not bolting away from him at least. “Why do you want to know about Horizon? Everyone died and I was responsible. Case closed.” He accused Jack defensively, regurgitating the same thing everyone else did but with a layer of bitterness under it.

“It’s not, Gabe, I just want to know-”

“And what? It’s not going to help me one bit to explain it to you. I’m still going to get hanged or worse! A whole colony is dead, Jack! One hundred million people!”

“Is it so wrong to want to know what happened from your point of view? So what if it doesn't help your case in court if someone manages to catch you, Asshole, but at least I’ll know the truth instead a bunch of murky facts from context-less security footage on the colony!” Jack argued, wanting to believe that Gabriel was innocent and everything just got out of hand on the colony when they responded to Gabe as a threat.

“I killed a man who blackmailed me, alright?!” Gabriel tossed his hands up in the air at that as he got off the bed and started pacing around the room, still not porting out like he could be to avoid answering Jack. “Fucker, threatened to bring my medical records to the authorities since I was exposed to fledgling nanite tech back when I was a merc. I worked on Horizon as a nurse at a decent hospital. I put myself through college and everything to get certified just so I could get consistent employment to put some money into the twin’s funds for when get sick or need rainy day money. Forged a lot of documents to keep the nanites off the records until someone got suspicious of the oversized hetantan nurse in a primarily humanoid staff. Asshole on staff thought I was doing drugs or something and hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on me. Annual blood tests were being closely monitored by the guy doing the digging and he found out the nanite contamination. Fucker then finds out I got kids and threatens to have them quarantined with me in a medical facility like lab rats.”

Gabriel ceases his pacing before taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out in shaky manner, his nerves clearly frayed as he recalled the whole thing. “I killed him. I killed him, the investigator and anyone else who helped them. I just didn't count on my nanites reacting to the corpses like they did. I lost consciousness before I could dispose of the bodies and hide the evidence then woke up to find myself on an escape pod floating in space. Kind of weird being a sentient cloud filling a four person escape pod but I managed to pull myself back together a few days after the pod was pulled onto a freighter and I was able to just focus on doing it while avoiding the crew in the cargo hold.”

“Didn't learn about Horizon until two weeks later when I was able to to hold myself together enough to walk about society. I tried killing myself several times after that but it wouldn't take. I would just pull myself back together even if I tossed myself out an airlock but I didn't float too far away before I was collected by some government vessel. Apparently nanite contamination has a big signature on scanners, who knew? Anyways, I killed everyone on the ship and sold it to some scrappers, bought myself the spacecraft I still have to this day. Been on the run ever since.” Gabriel concluded with a depressing sigh before looking back at Jack with regret-filled eyes. “So, yeah, I’m a murderer through and through. Not a good guy at all from the way I handled being blackmailed.”

Jack was stunned by such a horrifying event Gabriel went through, even if it was wrong for him to throw himself down the path of a serial killer just to protect himself and his children. Piling on how he murdered government agents to steal their ship and sell it to a fence was just insanity that spiraled Gabriel further down the rabbit hole. Gabriel was right that the truth wouldn’t help his case in court at all but it did give Jack a better idea of who Gabriel was and how much he regretted doing what he did. 

“Are… Are you sure that your kids and their parents are alright? The police had to have found some evidence as to why you went and murdered those people, right?” Jack asked, very much concerned for the innocent that Gabriel sacrificed so much so they could have a normal life.

Gabriel tensed up at that and coldly looked over at the red folded shirt on the nightstand. “If anyone knows what’s safe for them and their loved ones, they will not go after anyone but me.”

Jack felt a chill run down his spine at how convincing that threat sounded. He swallowed hard even though he knew that Gabriel was aiming that threat at the person listening to them, to Jesse McCree. It felt like all the blood was contracting from Jack’s limbs as he remembered the murder scenes evidence of how savage Gabriel could be to bounty hunters and anyone else who crossed his path. 

“G-Gabe… Come on! They’re not criminals, they’re just children!” Jack chuckled nervously from the bed. “The police has no reason to get unrelated parties involved.”

“Yes, but, what about public safety? You think I would kill someone if the evidence to justify a quarantine was that weak, Jack?” Gabriel asked as he turned to face Jack on the bed, eyes filled with fear and hurt. “Ten years ago, nanite technology wasn’t the miracle cure on the battlefield like it is today. You’ve seen what I can do to myself and that was just an accident I learned while experimenting on that freighter to piece myself back together. That was just because of direct exposure to prototype nanites! Imagine the kind of pain they’ll put my kids through to try to replicate the trauma I experienced because they think it got passed down genetically!”

“I don’t understand. If no one has ever gotten sick or anything at the schools they attended then they have no case to quarantine them!”

Gabriel laughed bitterly at that. “Idealistic, but they have the blood samples, or would have if I didn’t destroy them and killed everyone who looked at those results.” His head slumped downward, a pitiful laugh continuing. “I killed so many people, Jack. I feel sick just thinking about all the people who died on Horizon because I wanted my kids safe. Sometimes I can’t get out of bed for days or even find the will to eat more than a piece of fruit. Even outside of Horizon, how many kids have I made orphaned by killing their parents when they tried to arrest or kill me?”

“Gabe…”

“Seriously, Jack. I’m not a good person. No one will understand and even if they did the stuff I did to keep myself alive after Horizon is not justified by my need to protect my kids. Also, who’s to stop the cycle from repeating itself if you come with me and we have offspring of our own? They’ll have nanite contamination and someone will find out. They won’t be able to have a normal life. We’ll always be on the run in galaxies that might not be able to support human biology.”

Jack gritted his teeth at that as he balled his fist by his side. “Okay. You have a lot of very good points about how shitty life would be on the run and all. But, what if you didn’t run?”

Gabriel looked up at him on the bed, eyes wide in surprise at that. “Are you seriously telling me to hand myself over? Are you fucking nuts, Jackie?”

Jack nodded his head. “If no one can kill you through any means then why not negotiate your surrender to the authorities?” He moved over to the side of the bed where Gabriel was now sitting on the floor and looked at him in a serious manner. “Better yet, only offer to surrender yourself to a competent government that will help negotiate a non-invasive study on your kids to see if the nanites in them are as dangerous as yours.”

“You’re crazy, Jack.” Gabriel admitted with a shaky voice, as if wanting to believe that Jack could help him find a way out. “No one is going to negotiate with a colony killer, much less do it on their behalf!”

Jack smirked at him in a confident manner that had Gabriel thinking he was going insane. “A police officer who is a shining paragon for his community might be able to do something like that.”

“Okay. Then they’ll spin a story on how you’re a crooked cop somehow and tarnish everything you built up until now!”

“I guess.” Jack admitted easily as he brought up a hand to scratch at his chin. “But, that assumes I’m doing something that would justify tarnishing said carreer, right?”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes in annoyance at Jack. “Get to the point.”

Jack rolled his eyes at Gabriel’s impatience before clearing his throat. “They can’t say shit about a cop who’s trying to rehabilitate an unkillable murder, right? Especially if we were to, say, hunt down criminals across the universe that other bounty hunters and cops can’t touch, right?”

Gabriel paused at that for a few moment before growing rather curious of this idea Jack had. “Go on…”

“Think about it… Criminal empires that seem impossible to penetrate or are too costly for any government to send their fleets after and criminals that seem impossible to get to or kill…” Jack grinned in amusement as Gabriel seemed to understand what he was getting at, smiling back at Jack with much interest in this topic.

“Redeem myself to the universe by killing those who plague it with my ‘gifts’. How interesting.” Gabriel replied as he walked over to the bed and climbed up into it. Jack felt relieved that Gabriel was actually interested in his crazy scheme and let himself be pulled into Gabriel’s lap when he sat down on the bed. “Become a hero, basically?”

Jack smiled as he turned around to sit in Gabriel’s lap before reclining backwards against his chest, and rested the back of his head against Gabriel’s shoulder. “That doesn’t sound too bad, right? You’ll still be on the run but maybe the authorities will turn a blind eye once and awhile if you come visit me.”

Gabriel hummed at that, resting his chin on Jack’s hair and gently wrapping his arms around Jack’s waist. It felt so nice to come up with some form of alternative for his hetantan, especially if it meant that someday he will be able to hold his head up with pride. The people Gabriel killed would not come back and Jack didn’t expect the nightmares and depression to just vanish overnight for Gabriel. Hell, Jack wouldn’t be surprised if the animosity towards Gabriel will never go away and that he will always be a villain for the public to despise and hate, regardless if he tries to do some good with his conditional immortality.

What matter was Gabriel finding peace within himself.

“What about you, Jack?” Gabriel asked gently, brushing his lips back and forth slowly against his silver hair affectionately. “You won’t be getting into this without public scrutiny and I doubt anyone would be willing to help you reform a mass killer without thinking I planted a mind-controlling worm into your head once they learn you were used to bait me.”

Jack nodded his head at that, troubled at the thought that he might just indeed sink his career with this scheme as well but not on the level that running away with Gabriel would pose. He would probably have to move to another planet or colony and try to get another job somehow but he was sure he could manage that. Maybe he could contact his police academy friends and see if they have openings at their precinct or possibly beg for his current precinct to not fire him (he doubt that would work though). “I think if I approach the announcement carefully I could possibly keep some form of positive public opinion of myself intact to get another job.”

“That doesn’t sound very well-thought out.” Gabriel grumbled lightly.

Jack smirked at that. “You’re talking to a guy who managed to set himself up a date with the Reaper by making a shitpost. I think you can give me a little bit of credit for some of my impulsive ideas panning out.” He smiled fondly, reaching up to gently stroke Gabriel’s neck, closing his eyes as he felt the hetantan purr contently from the touches. Jack didn’t have to see Gabriel’s face to know he was rolling his eyes at that. He felt so calm and relaxed feeling and hearing the vibration against his back from Gabriel. 

“I guess you do have a point. Maybe the governments will be desperate enough to let you be a spokesperson for me. That or someone will abduct you and force me to come to your rescue or some shit just to make life harder.” Gabriel deadpanned, something Jack rather not think about at this moment when he was naked and in a compromising position with his sweetheart. At least Jesse was good at keeping to his word…

“Is this what you meant earlier by aspects of your personality that I will not like, Gabe?” Jack teased playfully before gently patting the flesh under Gabriel’s neck to make it jiggle slightly. “You’re quite the negative nancy.”

Gabriel huffed dismissively at that, gently pushing Jack’s hand away from under his chin to get him to stop toying with him. “Pretty sure someone has to be the realist in this relationship and it is certainly not you.”

Jack chuckled as Gabriel gently the side of Jack’s head, putting a smile on both of their faces. “And I’m the one with a badge too.”

“I think that a plus in your field though. The universe could always use more actionable optimists like you, Jackie.”

Jack felt his grin turn goofy as the warmth in his chest surged through him, undeniably happy with Gabriel in this moment. He was used to years of gentle, but equally hurtful let downs when it came to his ideas to improve things in the police precinct he was in. No one really wanted to put in an effort to work out alternatives that make use of his ideas and instead wrote it off as ‘unrealistic’ or that it ‘would make the police seem too soft’. They just encouraged him to do what he wanted on a street-level that wouldn’t get him beaten up or killed and maybe organize some charity events if he ‘wanted to direct the energy to something more useful’.

Gabriel actually wanted to encourage him but also keep him grounded in the realities of the universe. Jack really couldn’t ask for a more encouraging and loving partner, especially when he wanted to make amends for the crimes he committed.

“You think we could make some more, Gabe?” Jack asked sweetly, letting his partner know how much he adored him through his voice and the way he reached back to run his fingers from the back of Gabriel’s neck to the base of his skull, drawing out the purr machine once more. “More little heros to love on? Maybe take lots of pictures and videos with? Watch them grow up while we grow old together?”

“Yes. Yes to all of those.” Gabriel’s purrs grew louder at each rhetorical question, probably imagining each scenario as Jack spoke it while his clawed hands gently palmed circles into Jack’s abdomen. Jack felt himself lick his lips at how sensual the rolling touches were, wondering if Gabriel was imagining a similar appealing image of Jack filled with small growing eggs as well. 

\--

Jack was ecstatic as Gabriel laid down in the center of the bed after grabbing a few pillows to place behind his head for comfort. He didn’t seem bothered by his back shoulder armor propping up his upper torso on the bed so Jack didn’t make a remark on it and focused on putting a good show for Gabriel. Jack hadn't felt this horny in a while, not counting the earlier session they had an hour ago. He eagerly grabbed the lube container on the bed and poured the blue clear liquid into his palm before tossing it back to Gabriel, grinning when he watched the hetantan catch it without being prompted. Gabriel gently tossed the lube bottle on top of Jack’s clothing on the nightstand, easily within reach should they need more.

“Ready for human anatomy 101, Gabe?” Jack practically purred, sitting on his knees in front of Gabriel’s feet and reclining backward, his hand stroking downwards towards the silver treasure trail. Gabriel’s eyes were full blown, watching Jack’s hands and glancing back up to the man’s smug face as Jack slipped his hand into his pubic hair and curled his fingers in them to tug on them firmly. A moan left Jack’s lips, his cock bobbing from the sensation of his fingers pulling at the spread of hair while his other, lubed up hand roamed down behind his back and teased the ribbed flesh of his anus.

“Is that a rhetorical question or do you honestly think I haven’t watched interspecies porn between humans and hetantans yet?” Gabriel replied, licking his lips as he watched Jack turn around so he was now facing away from him, enjoying the view of his lover teasing his asshole while curving his back sensually to jut his ass out towards him. 

“What? Something about humans just turn you on, Handsome?” Jack asked as he slowly gyrated his hips in a slow circle, keeping his lubed middle finger still while he grinded against it. It felt so good to be able to act out this kind of sexual fantasy of his after being in a dry spell for so long. Jack had been too busy to even think about indulging in some casual fucking or even dating anyone but now that he had someone to share his heart with? He was going to tease Gabriel to his heart’s content.

Gabriel was purring up a storm as he watched Jack, bringing up a clawed hand to rest above Jack’s lower back, and lightly knead the flesh with care to not injure him. He was encouraging Jack without reaching for his hips to pull him down onto his finger to penetrate himself. Jack felt his cock leak a bead of precum from his slit that rolled down his head as he thought about how fucking hot that would be.

“Nah, just imagining how nice it will be to see you riding my dicks, Smartass. Don’t think I’ll have to imagine it for much longer but I’m quite patient.” He teased in return, giving Jack’s ass a light swat to draw a sharp gasp from his lover’s lips and watching as he shot Gabriel a heated look over his shoulders.

“Again.” 

Gabriel grinned in amusement as he watched Jack continue to tease himself over his finger, moving his hand to Jack’s untouched ass cheek to give it a slightly harder smack with his palm. Jack tensed up delightfully, his back shuddering as he rocked back against his finger, nipping down hard on his lower lip as the tip pushes into his ass. It felt so good, especially as Jack continued to grind against the digit to further stretch the tight ring with Gabriel watching his every move. 

He felt attractive, which was something Jack had been struggling with ever since he got out of the hospital. Another swat to his other ass cheek had him snapping his eyes shut, feeling the tingling burn on his butt go right to his dick skyrocket his desire for Gabriel to indulge in whatever he thinks will make Jack feel good. He always liked spanking in the past but everything felt brand new and exciting when Gabriel was the one doing it to him.

“Feel good, Jackie?” Gabriel asked as he alternated to his other cheek to swat it again. “Just good enough or do you want me to smack your ass a little harder?” He brought his other hand down so both of them were gently rubbing the sore flesh with his palms, giving Jack some relief since they didn’t know each other well enough or even talked limits beforehand.

Jack was now eagerly shoving a second finger into his ass as he leaned forward, resting his forehead against Gabriel’s closed thighs and giving Gabriel the best view of his fingers driving themselves into his asshole. His dick throbbed as he heard Gabriel suck in a breath, continuing to rub Jack’s asscheeks but with a bit more grip so he was moving the muscles counter-clockwise to each other. He could just imagine the erotic sight of his fingers moving in and out of him while Gabriel fondle his throbbing ass, wondering if Gabriel was getting nice and wet inside of his slit from that sight.

“I want you to smack my ass while I suck on your dick, Gabe.” Jack panted as he began spreading himself with his fingers, scissoring at his rim to stretch it wide enough so he would be comfortable with taking three fingers. He was going to need maybe four fingers inside of him before he would even think about letting himself ride Gabriel’s cocks. They were going to spread him so good and Jack’s cock was leaking onto Gabriel’s pubic region from how horny he was from just the thought of the amazing burn he would feel from taking them both in.

Gabriel’s purrs were becoming garbled, showing how aroused he was getting from Jack’s dirty talk, and felt the hands on his hands pause to grab Jack’s hips to pull him back. Jack’s knees were lifted off of the mattress a bit from where he was straddled on Gabriel’s chest, due to the hetantan’s armor pushing up his back, feeling his dick and balls lay heavy against Gabriel. He wanted to grind against Gabe’s chest to get some friction against his cock but held back as he watch Gabriel’s slit in his lower pelvis region unfold and present those two erect cocks once more. 

“Can I play with your ass instead, Jack?” Gabriel breath heavily, especially when Jack reached down to grip his upper penis in his hand and scooted forward more comfortably as he rest his elbows on Gabriel’s hips. God, he was really good at making Jack feel like he was the sexiest man alive and it was doing wonders to his sex drive.

“I don’t care what you do to me. I want everything you got, Gabe! Every nasty secret you’re hiding from me.” Jack pleaded before leaning down to take Gabriel’s thick, purple cock into his mouth up to bulb at at base. The texture of his cock was slick and foreign in his mouth but not unpleasant with how girthy it was as Jack swallowed hard around Gabriel with his cock deep in his throat.

Gabriel let out a strangled gasp as he bucked his hips upwards from how sudden Jack took him to the root, making Jack choke, the bulb of Gabriel’s penis pressing up against the front of his teeth. Jack had to take a moment to get his breathing in order through his nose and move his hands to Gabriel’s hips to try to encourage Gabriel to keep them in place. Although Jack loved how he managed to catch Gabe off guard with the sudden deep throat, he wasn’t expecting the buck to actually cause him that much discomfort.

“Okay, J-Jackie. I don’t think I can use my h-hands without hurting you so I’m going with some alternatives.” Gabriel confessed with a shaky breath, likely referring to the tendrils that came up and traced their smooth tips over Jack’s back.

Jack hummed in acknowledgement, slowly pull back off Gabriel’s dick until only his tip was still between his lips. He brought one hand up to hold Gabriel’s cock at the base and rolled his tongue slowly over the tip, Gabriel letting out a shaky moan as his torso trembled under Jack. The contact with Jack’s dick made him whimper as he wished his legs were closer to the mattress to allow him leverage to grind up against his lover’s chest. Jack was very hard and heavy between the legs at this point, wanting to do more to tease Gabriel but finding it very difficult to focus with how his own teasing was affecting himself. The tendrils wrapping firmly around his thighs and torso to both support and tease with light, constricting squeezes him. 

Blue eyes snapped open as a tendril came down on Jack’s ass, smacking the surface as firmly as Gabriel’s hand was a minute ago. Jack squirmed in response, not from pain or discomfort but because he couldn’t help but delight in the pleasant sting against his ass once more.

“You like that, Jackie?” Gabriel growled teasingly, a new tendril tracing Jack’s crack as it delicately moved its tip up and down from the top of Jack’s tail bone to barely grazing his asshole. The contact had Jack wreathing in his restraints, more tendrils coming out to secure Jack’s ankle and lift them upwards so he would not be able to touch the mattress. “This okay, by the way?”

“Yeah, lower the angle a bit more so it’s not so hard on my knees.” Jack responded ha he took his mouth off Gabriel for a moment to answer him. He felt a lot more comfortable when Gabriel did just that with his tendrils. “That’s good.” Jack eagerly pumped Gabriel’s length in appreciation as he lapped his tongue lazily over Gabriel’s smooth penis head, making Gabriel’s legs shift for purchase on the bed as he bit down a moan.

It was at that moment that Jack felt the tendril teasing his asshole thin out at the tip and press firmly against it without entering. “Can I, Jackie?” Gabriel asked as Jack continued to toy with his penis tip by laying it flat against the top and using his hand to move the shaft in slow circles against his hot, wet tongue. 

“Mhm!” Jack eagerly consented, trying to rock his own hips to get his point across before he felt the thin tendril push inwards, sliding in with ease with the preparation Jack did earlier. It was about one and a half fingers thick but Jack figured Gabriel wanted to start small then slowly work their way up to the penises. He was genuinely thankful he had such an understanding and eager to learn boyfriend.

God, that was what they were now, right? 

Jack could feel the warmth in his heart from the realization and it just magnetized the pleasure he was feeling from the tendril carefully tracing the walls of his rectum in slow strokes. The tart taste against Jack’s tongue made him realize that Gabriel was giving off precum or something similar and he had to refrain from gagging as he got used to it. He wasn't going to back off this dick even if it killed him. Jack was pretty sure Gabe wouldn't have even brought up the idea of sex if it had a chance of making Jack ill with incompatible bodily fluid types. 

He instead focused on the tendrils that were further gathering onto his body while the tendril in his ass meekly prodded the internal lining of his rectum towards the entrance. There was now a tendril under each of Jack’s kneecaps, supporting the weight of his legs that were hovering in the air and massaging them gently with the tips. Jack moan softly at how much Gabriel wanted Jack to enjoy their first time together, making sure he was comfort in little ways that made his heart flutter in appreciation. 

“You think you can guide me a bit, Jackie?” Gabriel grunted, resisting the urge to thrust upwards into Jack’s mouth again from how his hips quivered while Jack continued to lazily tongue at his tip.

Right, Gabriel just new at this like Jack was with his hetantan body. He was going to need some hand holding to figure out what made him see fireworks.

Jack gave Gabriel’s cock head one more lazy lap of his tongue before acknowledging the hetantan by looking over his shoulder in a seductive manner. He slowly pumped Gabriel’s penis in his hand while the tendril inside of him continued to gently trace his walls without stretching him. That shyness was definitely gonna be gone in a moment once Jack got Gabriel up to speed.

“Okay. It’s harder to find where the lining meets the prostate in male humans compared to your erogenous zone but I suppose I can give you some directions.” Jack chuckled heatedly, giving Gabriel cock in his palm a little squeeze as he pulled his hand upwards on his shaft, drawing a low pitched gasp from Gabriel's lips.

“You’re a goddamn tease, you know that?” 

Jack grinned in amusement at that accusation. “Guilty as charged, Gabe. Anyways, you can push yourself in more and make your tendril a bit fuller. I’m pretty sure I could feel it better if you did that and trace the bottom walls more.” He instructed, Gabriel nodding his head hesitantly.

“You’ll tell me if it’s too uncomfortable, right?”

“Yeah. I promise. I want you so bad, Gabe, it’s driving me up the wall.” Jack confessed, sucking in a sudden gasp and arching himself forward against Gabriel as he felt the tendril expand in his ass, stretching his anus wide.

“Almost there, Jackie.” Gabriel purred reassuringly. “You’ll feel so good when I get my dicks in you.”

Jack let out a whine at that, his hand balancing himself on Gabriel’s pelvis clenching into a fist as the pleasure went straight to his dick, unable to push back or do much of anything with his legs immobilized by the tendrils. His eyes widened as he felt a second tendril trace the red rim when the tendril inside of Jack was exploring and feeling for his prostate through the wall.

“Am I getting closer?” Gabriel asked curiously, drawing a moan from Jack’s lips when the tendril finally slid over that hot spot, feeling himself leaking out even more so onto Gabriel as his cock bobbed from the contact. 

“There! Oh please, Gabe!” 

The tendril inside of Jack moved back and forth as it traced his walls, trying to find that spot again but missing the mark several times.

“Where?” Gabriel asked.

“Lowe-” He was cut off by a whimper that left his lips when Gabriel hit home.

“Here?”

“God! Yes! Yes yes yes yes!” Jack yelled in relief when Gabriel found his prostate and started fucking him with his tendril over the spot. Moving back and forth while Jack was practically sobbing from the sensation, especially when he felt a very thin tendril catch on his rim and stretch him anus ever so slightly but not to the point where it hurt. The smaller tendril wrapped around the thicker one, creating a delicious spiral that had Jack wreathing. His cock continuing to leak over Gabriel’s chest shamelessly as he was at his lover’s mercy.

It felt like every thrust resulted in the smaller tendril slowly inflating over time as Jack began to notice he was sweating from the torment. He gripped Gabriel’s thighs with his hands like their were his very lifelines as he pressed the side of his face down near the spans of skin near the slit and whimpering as Jack watched both of Gabriel’s purple, pear-shaped cocks throb so enticingly. Gabriel had to be feeling frustrated at this point as his own cock was leaking down from his top penis tip but not the lower one even as they both throbbed. It looked more like the bottom one was getting white towards the large tip, expanding ever so slightly before Jack’s eyes. 

Was Gabriel’s body generating the eggs even if he wasn’t actively fucking Jack with his actual sexual organs?

If he had a functional brain to think with then maybe he would be able to form a sentence or two to ask Gabriel rather than gasping for breath and moaning like a harlot. “Gabe…! Please…!”

“I got you, J-Jackie!” Gabriel grunted in response, his voice lower and more gravely than before which shot straight to Jack’s dick from how unexpectedly hot Gabriel sounded in that moment. “Can I…?”

“Yes! Oh god. PLEASE!” He begged, feeling the tendrils holding him in place begin to unwind and let his legs down. Jack was surprised that his legs didn’t feel like pins and needles, probably from how in control Gabriel was the entire time while preparing Jack. 

Gabriel then used his hands to carefully turn Jack around, the tendril staying in place with ease before rolling them both over. Jack was now laying on his back below Gabriel and was more than pleased when Gabriel leaned down to press their lips together. The tendril was still inside Jack’s body while Jack brought his arms up to wrap around Gabriel’s neck as they brushed their lips against the other’s. Jack was crying at this point from both the pleasure and how much he loved his partner, Gabriel feeling the same way when Jack looked to see the tears rolling silently down and over Gabriel’s bone mask. 

They were both idiots in love with the other that it felt like drowning at this point. Both of them holding the oxygen mask and tank the other needed to survive then willingly gave to the other as they continued drifting downward to the cool ocean bottom. 

Jack wanted it to be like that. No matter how cold or crushing the despair that was to come from this union, he will always feel comfortable if Gabriel loves him. The surface is never too far away if he needs to come up for air and warmth so he will gladly dive with his lover if he has the choice.

The tendril in Jack’s ass slowly pulled out, making him suck in a breath through his teeth as Gabriel pulled his lips away to let them both breath. Red eyes looked down at Jack as Gabriel reached up to brush away the tears on his own face. Being the gentleman that he was, Gabriel quickly realized it might get himself some ‘smooth’ points if he brushed Jack’s cheeks off with the back of his clawed finger. Jack found himself chuckling as he let the hetantan wipe away his tears, as cheesy as it was before Gabriel pulled his hand away and leaned his head down to press it gently up against the side of Jack’s.

“Remember how I said I was going to show you how hetantan show affection?” Gabriel purred softly, gently nuzzling his head against his partner’s.

“You mean…?” 

“Yeah… I was trying to do this on our first date before your boss freaked out.” He chuckled sheepishly, making Jack smile warmly at the confession. 

“Jeez, kind of forward on the first date.” Jack teased playfully as he nuzzled the side of his face against Gabriel’s affectionately, making his partner purr louder from the reciprocation of the contact. 

“Eh. Was more curious about what you knew about hetantans and how you would react more than anything.” He casually replied before pulling back to look down at Jack. “So, uh, You have a preference? For breeding positions?” Gabriel quickly clarified at the end.

Jack swallowed at that, knowing Gabriel was probably wording it clinically like that to give him an out if he felt like backing out of this whole thing rather than asking ‘how would you like me to fuck you’ or something similarly casual when this whole thing was anything but that. His eyes glanced down between Gabriel’s legs where the two penises hung heavy and enticingly in place. Jack felt his own dick throb hard in response to the sight.

“I know this doesn’t sound really romantic but how about from behind?”

Gabriel looked at him for a moment before tilting his head to the side. “Isn’t it romantic regardless of positions though? It’s called ‘making love’ for a reason.” He tried explaining to Jack, making his partner sigh in relief as he rolled over onto his stomach and got up on his hands and knees.

“Don’t think too hard about it, Gabe. Humans are weird, remember?” Jack chuckled, pressing his back coyly against Gabriel’s torso over his and wiggled his ass against those plump dicks he wanted badly inside of him.

Gabriel sucked in a breath at Jack’s teasing, clearly approaching wit’s end as he pressed his hips forward to rub his cocks up and sliding the tips up and down between his asscheeks. “Never said humans were weird, Jackie.” 

Jack pressed his forehead into the bed at his failure to get the human concept of ‘kinkshaming’ across. He sighed before quickly regaining his momentum as he pushed himself back up, bumping the top of his head playfully against Gabriel’s chin while he was looking down at him. “It was a joke about humans, don’t worry about it.” He reassured Gabriel with a smile.

“Yeah, but, it’s no fun to be left out of an inside joke.” Gabriel huffed sarcastically, rubbing his chin in Jack’s white hair to ruffle it and a snort out of Jack.

“I promise I’ll give you the history of human sexuality, okay?”

“Just get fucking?”

“Please…” Jack whimpered, happy that Gabriel was going to help him move this along rather than just drag out the conversation any longer. He felt two tendrils spread his ass apart, baring his loose hole to Gabriel and sucked in a breath through his teeth as he felt Gabriel’s pensises push into him. They filled him more so than the spiral tendril set from a few moments ago and it was only the tips! “You won’t make me take the bulbs, right?” Jack asked, unsure if he would be comfortable with being stretched out that far and still keep the eggs inside himself afterwards.

“Generally, we don’t go that deep. Just tell me when it starts hurting and we’ll just work with what you can take, alright?” Gabriel purred soothingly, letting himself brace his hands on the mattress so he was truely mounted over Jack. “You can tell me to stop, in general, alright? No questions asked.”

“Thank you, Gabe.” Jack sighed in relief, both of them staying still while Jack’s body got used to the strain of being stretched by two cocks at once. It felt good though to be taken care of by someone genuinely concerned for his mental and physical health, especially when Jack was the one who practically begged him to do this with him. “So good…!”

Gabriel chuckled fondly at Jack’s breathy words. “Wait till I start moving before you start calling me a sex god or something, Jackie.” A tendril moving into Jack’s sight from Gabriel’s back to gently caress the side of his face.

“I take it back, you’re terrible.” Jack smiled, nuzzling the side of his face against the tendril as if it was Gabriel.

“I love you so much, Jackie. You know that, right?” 

“I certainly would hope so.” 

“I’m being real here, Jackie. Don’t be so rude.” He snickered playfully as he gently pulled his hips back before carefully pushing himself forward, drawing a moan from both of them. “I’m… I’m putting it all out there for you.” 

Jack swallowed hard at that. “I know. I know and I really appreciate it. I love you too, Gabe.”

Yes, it was very sappy but just hearing it from Gabriel made Jack all the more comfortable with trust his partner. That he really will come back for him no matter how the night goes after they leave Gabriel’s suite. 

“I can take more, Gabe. Mmm! Just like that!” Jack arched his back as Gabriel repeated the slow process of pulling out to the tip before inching himself back into Jack’s tight ass again. He wanted to encourage his partner that he wasn’t feeling any pain, make this feel good for him as well rather than think he was walking on eggshells. “Feels incredible, Gabe…!”

“Mmm…!” Gabriel seemed to relax a bit more with Jack’s reassurance, growing bolder by slowly pushing in further each time he pulled out and pushed back in. The wetness of Gabriel’s slit rolling down his cocks and adding more lubricant to the mix each time he carefully pushed inwards. It probably helped that Jack toyed with himself earlier with a lot of lubricant as well. “Your ass is so tight, Jackie. Better than I could have fantasized.” He grunted as he leaned back into Jack, lightly rocking his hips back and forth now that he had half of his length comfortably inside Jack.

“Th-this is good, Gabe! No more than this…!” Jack gasped as he rocked in tandem with Gabriel’s gentle pushes back inside him.

“Alright, I’ll take good care of you, Jackie.” Gabriel acknowledge as he sucked in a sharp breath through his sharp teeth. “I bet you look amazing on my dicks. Wish there was a mirror here so we could see us.”

“G-Gabe…!” Jack felt his dick throb hard at the dirty pillow talk coming from Gabriel’s mouth. That visual image Gabriel put into his head was a massively appealing one. Wondering how amazingly lewd his body would look if it was a mirror on the headboard. Seeing Gabriel’s large form over his own, his own face flushed with sweat rolling down his body as he watched himself squirm and shudder at the pleasure he was feeling. Gabriel watching his expressions twist in the reflection, their eyes meeting as he pounded Jack harder from behind in response to get more out of him…

“Gabe. My phone…” Jack panted, not sure how to form words coherently as his hand gripping the sheets below himself while Gabriel continued his slow pace. 

“Not exactly… A g-good idea, Jackie. E-Evidence.”

Jack let out a whine at that, rolling his hips in agonizingly slow circles as he clenched his asshole firmly against Gabriel’s cocks, making Gabriel suck in a sharp breath. 

“Jack…!” Gabriel growled, thrusting in a bit more forcefully and drawing a shameless moan from the human propped up under him. 

Jack’s arms were quivering too much to properly hold him up any longer, making the the human collapse downwards with his ass still in the air as his chest and face were now against the sweat caked mattress sheets below him. “Fuck, Gabe! So good!”

“Yeah? You feel so good and tight for me, Jackie. You want to get bred that badly?” Gabriel teased as he picked up the pace a bit more, definitely not hurting Jack at this point, especially when he brought a tendril down to wrap around his dick. The tendril was slick with lubricant, probably from the lubricant bottle that was somewhere on the bed, and Jack was getting louder as he felt that hot white coil in his stomach start to strain towards his release. “I bet you like having an audience hearing you whimper for my eggs. Knowing that you pick having our children over the universe…!” He grunted, clearly approaching the end as well.

The lower penis started pushing further inwards into Jack with each thrust, making Jack claw desperately at the the sheets to try to not cum before Gabriel was ready, wanting to reach the end with him. “Ga-... ab…!” The tendril jacking off Jack’s cock was moving rapid up and down, making Jack’s hope of holding out impossible before Gabriel reassured him, equally lost in the heat as he thrusted rapidly in and out of his lover’s ass.

“I got you…! I’m…!” Gabriel couldn’t get out anymore words before his was snarling and exerting himself hard as he bit down firmly on Jack’s shoulder. 

The finality good enough a signal for Jack as he was practically sobbing into the mattress from how forceful his own orgasm was, white ribbons shooting out of his cock with each tight throb of his balls and onto the bed. Each thrust of Gabriel’s cocks into his pushing out more of his own hot seed onto the already sweat-soaked sheets below him as Gabriel was muffling his own heated grunts of exertion into Jack’s shoulder as he came as well.

Jack could feel the heat of Gabriel’s semen shooting into his ass along with the feeling of something the size of small golf balls being pushed into him with every thrust. The bottom penis was pushing them out with each throb of Gabriel’s dicks with plenty of fluid outside of Gabriel’s semen to squirt them further up Jack’s ass as it slowly retracted in the same beat with every egg pushed out.

God, Jack could hear the excess fluid dripping heavily down from both his ass and Gabriel’s length onto the bed, one of the few things Jack could make out in the white haze of his consciousness other than his own breathing. His body was warm, filled to the brim, and satisfied to a ridiculous extent from their coupling. It took him a few moments to realize he was smiling from ear-to-ear when he rested his face to the side to breath in some fresh air.

The tendril on Jack’s cock loosened and whirled back upwards, probably into Gabriel’s back as the hetantan brought one clawed hand off the bed to hold Jack as he carefully laid them both on their sides. They stayed connected as Gabriel’s penises continued to throb, even when no more eggs or warm fluid was being released. Jack didn’t seem to mind at all as he closed his eyes to relax, letting the haze in his mind continue to relax him while Gabriel kept an arm protectively draped over his waist.

It was quiet except for their labored breaths as they both relaxed from the session. Something Jack really appreciated, especially when Gabriel was gently grooming Jack’s hair with his tongue and teeth from behind. Normally he would find that to be weird as fuck but the purrs that slowly resumed when Gabriel was somewhat breathing normally had Jack drifting off. It was probably an instinctive response on Gabriel’s part than something he would do outside of a post-orgasm bliss and not something he could really judge. Sides, it felt nice anyways.

Jack was still smile as his eyes gazed down at his abdomen, Gabriel’s clawed hand slightly in the way but Jack didn’t really find himself annoyed. 

Kids.

They were going to grow inside of him and hopefully a few of them would make it when it was all said and done. Jack closed his eyes and prayed for their health. Prayed for Gabriel to be able to visit him often and for there to be no hiccups to Jack’s own health while he carried the growing eggs inside of him. He was probably going to have to invest in the best incubator in the universe but felt it would be well worth the expenses to see a few of his kids hatch against all odds. 

“I love you, Gabe.” Jack whispered, fully aware of how sappy he was being in this moment. The teeth gently pulling on Jack’s hair to straighten them out paused for a moment before releasing them.

“I’ll always come back for you, Jackie.” Gabriel murmured quietly into Jack’s ear before Jack felt Gabriel nuzzle the back of his head affectionately, the firmness of the bone mask pressing up against him during the action. “Always.”

\--

They ended up cuddling and just talking for the rest of the time after Gabriel carefully pulled out of Jack. Jack nodding off from time-to-time while Gabriel was sending his phone texts containing useful links to sites with information on pregnancies with hetantan children and verified doctors that could help Jack stay healthy through his pregnancy. His excuse for the information overload was ‘you never know if you’ll get a signal out in the more outlying parts of the universe’.

It was comforting and a bit saddening that they both knew they were going to be apart after this. Gabriel doing everything he could to try to set Jack up with as much useful resources as possible while Jack just tried to keep squeezing his asshole to try to get it to tighten back up. He was probably paranoid that the eggs might fall out even though the foreign sensations in his intestines said that the eggs had latched on otherwise. 

“So, how are we going to do this?” Gabriel asked quietly, confusing Jack for a moment before the hetantan showed him the time on his phone.

11:30pm. Thirty minutes before they had to show up at Jack’s hotel.

Jack frowned as he sat up carefully on the bed to sit back against the headboard with Gabriel. “I want you to come with me as a hetantan, Gabe. You’ll be too vulnerable if you go as human-passing and have to mess with your canisters to port out.”

Gabriel looked down at him, a troubled expression on his face. “They are listening in, you know.”

“I realize that but-” I want to give you a fair chance.

“I wasn’t saying we shouldn’t go with that plan but the hotel is going to call the police if they see me standing outside with you while we wait for the cab. I honestly doubt the driver will even let me in due to small cabs are anyways.” Gabriel replied casually before looking at the gym bag he left on the floor. “You could carry me in that if I stay in my nanite form.”

Jack blinked before he glanced over to where Gabriel was point to on the floor. “Oh, right. I guess we could do that.” He then glanced back at Gabriel with some concern. “Will you be okay?”

“Yeah. It would be nice to indirectly sit in your lap for twenty or so minutes before we get dropped off at your hotel.” Gabriel grinned before Jack lightly shoved his shoulder, drawing a chuckle out of them both.

“You ass.”

Gabriel shrugged his shoulders at that. “Guilty as charged. Anyways, you should probably make that call now so your boss won’t chew us out for coming home late.”

Jack rolled his eyes at that, both of them full well knowing that his ‘boss’ was listening in on them anyways before scooting over to get his phone off his stack of clothing on the nightstand to call the cab company. He hung up after telling dispatch where to send the care and hung up after he got the eta. “They’ll be here in ten minutes.” Jack announced before setting his phone down on the clean portion of the bed and get up to start getting dressed around.

Gabriel groaned as he got off the bed, his body a bit stiff from laying back against the headboard for a while without moving around while doing his research. He started gathering items like the bottle of lubricant (capping it before putting it into the bag) before going into the bathroom to put all the complimentary soaps, shampoos and the like into the bag as well. Jack quirked a brow at Gabriel as he watched him also roll up the hand and body towels before stuffing them into the sides of the bag.

“What? I need new towels!”

Jack let out a heavy sigh of disappointment. Whatever. It’s not like his criminal record could get worse with theft added onto it. “Me and the kids aren’t mad, we’re just disappointed.”

“You got a point. I’ll leave at least one towel and wash cloth behind.” Gabriel remarked in amusement, tossing the two items out of his bag while Jack rolled his eyes as he pulled on his pants and belt, taking care not to tighten it too much.

“Such a good role model we have here.” Jack spoke sarcastically, pulling on his arms through his button up business shirt and beginning to button up the front. 

“I’ll seriously stop stealing, Jack. I’ll get my stuff on the black market like any good outlaw does once we’re done here.”

Jack pulled his tie into place and rolled his eyes in a teasing manner to that before tucking his phone into his back pocket. “Whatever, get in the bag, Gabe.”

“Geez, I settled for a pushy one.” Gabriel huff sarcastically in return, dematerializing himself and easily filling the bag up as a nanite cloud.

Jack zipped up the bag and carried it casually after slipping the straps over his shoulder. He went to the front door and put his shoes back on before clapping his hands twice to turn off all the lights in the suite. It was going to suck to be the cleaning team on this room in the morning but tried to not let it bother him as he opened the door and closed it behind him. He was a man on a mission, even if the mission would be his last one with the swat team.

\--

They waited until the cab driver drove away from the hotel before Jack set the bag down on the ground and unzipped it in an alleyway beside the hotel. Gabriel’s nanite cloud came out and reformed. The hetantan then shadow stepping with his bag of stolen goodies back to his ship before coming right back. Jack was anything but pleased with the reckless waste of energy when Gabriel reappeared right next to him.

“Could you maybe take this a bit more seriously, Gabe?” Jack asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers in annoyance.

Gabriel was on all fours and merely shrugged his shoulders at that. “I’ve been on the run for a long time, Jackie. If you want me to recoup my strength then just give me a few minutes to catch my breath.”

“Thank you. I guess I can wait a few minutes in a dirty alleyway with yo-”

Gabriel cut Jack off by stepping forward, standing up and then leaning over to press his lips against Jack’s. Frustrating Jack for a moment before he realized Gabriel was lightly shaking and he hadn’t even noticed until now. Was he afraid that the outcome would be different this time? That they might never see each other again after this?

Jack brought his hands up to wrap gently around Gabriel’s neck, rubbing his partner’s shoulders to console him as their lips brushed back and forth together. He wasn’t going to cry or get upset. Gabriel needed the reassurance that everything would be okay between them without him saying it out loud. Gabriel might have shadow stepped on purpose with dropping his bag off as an excuse to buy more time for their good bye.

Gabriel slowly drew back and leaned forward to hug Jack to his chest. He breath was shaky as he nuzzled the side of his face against Jack’s and Jack had to swallow the tears down hard as he held Gabriel the best as he could. Why did love have to hurt this badly? It was one of the most terrible feelings Jack ever felt, like he was going to have part of himself torn away if he let go of Gabriel. That letting him go would mean the end of what they had in this whirlwind of a relationship.

They were both scared but Jack was the one who pulled away first, taking Gabriel’s hand as he smiled at him reassuringly. The mission was almost over. Gabriel would get away like he always did. He just had to believe it would happen and pray that reality reflected his optimism for once in his goddamn life.

\--

“Well now. I said ‘be home at midnight’ an’ ya’ll come back sneakin’ in forty minutes late.” McCree drawled, his face hidden behind the visor as Jack opened the door to find the inside of the room pitch black. 

Jack wasn’t privy to all of the details this time so he held on tightly to Gabriel’s hand as he stepped forward, Gabriel following behind him obediently on his hind legs. “Sorry about that. Liked the beds at the resort better.” He snarked back at Jesse, having no hard feelings to his boss but incredibly nervous all the same. His eyes kept darting back to Gabriel, afraid that if he looked away that he would vanish instead of letting the swat team attempt a capture to keep suspicion off Jack.

Yeah, Jesse would probably let him go after this but intentionally sabotaging the attempt would ruin Jack’s chances of ever having a career or something when he gets home. A lot of money was spent on this, after all. Last thing he needed was to be outwardly called out on being a crooked cop with all the swat members watching them in the darkness somewhere.

“Brought a friend home too. I see.” McCree chuckled, the light in the hallway revealing Jesse to be in his heavy duty swat gear now that Gabriel wasn’t blocking it in the doorway anymore. “Nice to meet you, Reaper.”

Red eyes glowed in the darkness of the room as they regarded the man in front of himself. “Nice to meet the man who was listening in our date today and making things awkward.” He huffed casually as he stood by Jack, not even flinching when the door was closed behind them and fully plunged them all into darkness.

“Yer awfully cocky this time, Partner. Would have thought that would spook ya a bit.” 

“You’re talking to the wrong guy if you think total darkness can make me quiver in my boots, Cowboy.”

“Alright then. If yer gonna be this talkative then why don’t we have a little chat?”

“How about you just snap your trap already? And I’m not talking about your mouth.” Gabriel shot back, sounding rather annoyed before they were suddenly shoved apart, probably by the agent who closed the door. 

There was a loud thud behind Jack before the lights snapped on, a blue orb trapping them both and pulling them up into the air. An electric current then enveloped them both, causing Jack’s hairs to stand up on their ends but causing Gabriel to howl out in pain as he collapsed to his hands and knees. 

“Gabe!!” Jack was too distracted by his partner’s pain to notice the hard light tech making her fingers seemingly dance and allowing McCree to grab Jack and yank him out through the hole the tech created. Her fingers then curled together on one hand to close the gap while she moved her left palm over the closed right one to reduce the size of the orb holding the hetantan in his ball of pain.

“You alright, Jack?” McCree drawled as he helped Jack to the floor. 

It was here that Jack realized how sophisticated the trap was that Jesse helped organize for this attempt. There were white hard light turrets set up all over the walls in the room that kept their beams focused on maintaining the orb container while Torbjorn was holding a remote in his hand and steadily adjusting the dial on the display. Several other swat members were decked out in heavy riot gear as well while the hard light tech, the famed Symmetra, continued to work her technological magic to keep everything orderly.

Jack was surprised that Jesse actually kept his promise to not have him be hurt any further while acting as bait and was concerned why it felt like he barely felt the charge in the orb at all while Gabriel was literally clawing desperately at the blue walls to get out. He shot a glare towards Jesse, still wearing his visor to cover his face but knew he shouldn’t hate McCree for wanting to just do his job. It sucked being in this position where he couldn’t say or do anything to help Gabriel and not be completely ruined by it afterwards.

“I’m fine.” Jack begrudgingly grumbled, watching as Gabriel struggled in the trap.

Even mentally preparing himself didn’t seem to help as Jack had to push himself to the point of emotional exhaustion to just watch this whole thing happen. Gabriel was whirling his nanites around himself, clouding the orb as he was trying to shadowstep his way back, growling furiously to try to focus through the pain since the nanites weren’t phasing through the barrier. Jack eyed Torbjorn several feet away from himself, wondering if the control was for the electricity they were using to stun the nanites or something before Gabriel growled something when Jack went to get up.

“You think your little trap will work? I’ll admit that it hurts like fuck but it’s severely lacking follow through!” Gabriel snarled, his body flaring red before he snapped out of sight, the shadowstep pulling through without much trouble.

McCree then shot to his feet. “Fan out! There’s no way he got too far away!” He ordered. The swat team bolting out the front door while Jesse pressed down on the ‘call’ button on his commlink in his ear. “Shimada, plan one failed, keep tags on the fucker’s ship, alright? Over!” He released the button as he flipped his viso back, showing the cowboy caked in sweat and frustration while he brushed his face off with the back of his hand. “So close! Dammit!” 

Torbjorn clicked off the power to the amplifiers he had in the room when Symmetra waved her hand elegantly to make the orb disappear when the turrets powered down. Jack was relieved that that the attempt ultimately failed even though there was the chance Gabriel could be captured while he was heavily exhausted. He honestly felt bad for the swat team too, regardless of his affections for Gabriel. 

Jack resisted telling Gabriel anything about what he knew of the operation and was right to trust that Gabriel would be able to endure anything they could throw at him to make the arrest. He was rather worried though when Gabriel was taking much longer than usual to break free from the trap’s hold, the swat team underestimated his ability to take a beating and truly failing to really put the nail in the coffin to knock him out. 

The game was over, even if Jesse tried to convince him to stay on Jack was going to resign from this cat and mouse game. He brought a hand to his flat abdomen, hoping that the electrical current wouldn’t cause lasting harm to the eggs since it hardly caused him any discomfort at all. The electrical current was more about disrupting the nanites’ synchronization than anything else he assumed.

“Jack.”

Jack looked over at Jesse and casually let his hand slid down to his lap to try to smoothly hide the revealing gesture. “Yeah?”

McCree looked at him with concern as he walked back over and sat down on the floor next to him, laying his back against the wall like Jack was. “You sure you’re okay? You want me to take ya to a doc or somethin’? Fer… you know?” He delicately phrased his meaning while Symmetra and Torbjorn were busy packing up their equipment.

Bless Jesse McCree and his big, soft heart…

“Yeah. I’m worried.” Was all Jack would say before McCree tapped on his commlink in his ear once more. 

“Shimada. Mind sending an ambulance to the hotel? Just want to make sure Morrison is okay after everything he went through today.” McCree spoke calmly, nodding his head as one of the brothers spoke back to him. “Alright. Thanks again.” He took his finger off the button before looking at Jack sympathetically and placed a reassuring hand on Jack’s shoulder to comfort him.

“Thanks, Jesse.” Jack smiled lightly.

“No problem.” McCree drawled as he reached for Jack’s collar and plucked the bug off before crushing it between his heavy gloved fingers. “Ya’ll seemed very dazed so it’s off to the doc’s ya go, right?” He smiled knowingly.

“Right. Standard protocol and all.” Jack agreed.

McCree only got up to change out of his heavy armor before the ambulance showed up, riding along with Jack and keeping his spirits up while Jesse’s unit continued to search for Gabriel. They made small talk about how Jesse went out to the public beach with the team, not getting in the water so he could keep listening in on their conversation. He was confident nothing bad would happen as he laid out on a towel and enjoyed a beer while the agents took turns keeping watch on Jack and Gabriel through the entire date. Everyone got a chance to enjoy the beach and the food the boardwalk had to offer, especially when Jack and Gabe wanted extra time to spend together in Gabe’s suite.

At that point in the story the ambulance thankfully arrived at the hospital and Jack was taken away on a wheelchair to get checked out by one of the specialist. Jesse promised to stay in the waiting room the entire time until Jack was asked to stay overnight to keep an eye on his condition. The cowboy went back to the hotel to sleep but was there first thing in the morning to tell him the unfortunate news that Reaper had escaped, much to Jack’s secret delight.

“So, how are the… how are you?” Jesse asked, sitting down in the chair next to Jack’s bedside, wearing casual clothing and his cowboy hat as he looked at Jack with concern.

Jack frowned Jesse’s hesitation to say anything but nodded his head in understanding. “Lost two eggs overnight, would have had gotten very sick if the surgeon didn’t remove the eggs themselves and I just carried on like usual. The other six are just fine for now.” He responded, not wanting to seem too disappointed as he laid back against the inclined bed propping up his upper back comfortably. “You probably saved my life by asking me if I wanted to come here or not, Jesse.”

Jesse smiled empathetically as he reached over to place a hand on Jack’s shoulder reassuringly. “We’re friends, Jack. I mean, I’m your boss too but I genuinely wanted to make sure that you were okay. I know that Reaper didn’t do anything you didn’t want done to you but I figured that ya’ll would want to make sure the eggs were holding up okay after standing in the trap for a few seconds.”

“Thanks for saying that.” Jack smiled in relief, confusing the cowboy for a moment.

“Which part?”

“Both; that you think of us as friends and that you don’t think what Reaper and I did was morally wrong.” 

Jesse’s lips lifted into a lopsided grin as he brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “I ain’t- That ain’t none of my business what ya do fer the sake of the job. I just want ya safe and healthy at the end of the day, ya know, Partner?” He chuckled softly as he let his hand fall back to his side. “I guess this is it then, huh?” Jesse drawled rather quietly, the disappointment in his tone heavy on Jack’s heart as he looked at McCree sympathetically.

“Yeah. I can’t put myself at risk anymore. Can’t even think to bring Reaper into one of your traps anymore, Jesse.”

Jesse heaved a heavy sigh as his head hung at that. He took off his hat before bringing his hand off Jack’s shoulder to run it through his hair. “I was… I was kind of hoping you would stay with us. It was nice having you on the cruiser, Jack. Don’t think I heard a bad word from anyone on the team ‘bout ya and… Well, I guess ya gotta go where the wind takes ya.”

“I’m sorry, Jesse.”

“It’s fine. Ya got mah number an’ everythin’. It’s not like we have t’stop bein’ friends just cause we’re goin’ our separate ways, ya know.” Jesse chuckled fondly as he lifted up his head and pulled his hat back on with a smile. “I’ll be sure to let the bosses know that yer ready ta throw in that towel on this one. Damn shame I lost all that data on the conversation ya’ll and Reaper had yesterday.”

Jack felt a smile lift the corners of his lips at that. Jesse promising to keep Gabriel’s secrets and the Horizon Incident to himself though Jack doubted he would not use it himself to one-up his chase on Reaper. What mattered was that he wouldn’t spread it so easily like he could with the recordings he would have. It would give Gabriel time to come up with countermeasures or at least be aware of how well-known certain tactics of his were.

Gabriel probably would be happy to hear that, whenever he comes back to pick up Jack or whatever they decide based on how Jesse’s bosses talk to his own about his performance on the swat team. It was all up in the air and he would just have to focus on adjusting his everyday life to accommodate for the eggs inside of himself.

They spent the rest of the time chatting until Jesse had to leave, the suitcase with Jack’s things from the ship and the hotel brought in by the other members as they said their goodbyes to their temporary team mate. Jack wished them all well on their future endeavors and added a lot of numbers to his personal phone to stay in touch with everyone before they left him to get checked up on by the nurses. No changes after a two day stay meant that he was stable enough to leave and take a week-long space shuttle home to his colony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took forever for me to get you guys an update. You guys get two chapters instead of one!
> 
> Yay! Jack is finally pregnant!
> 
> If you enjoyed this chapter please leave a kudo and a comment on what you liked about it please! I worked really hard to get you guys this extra long chapter and I'm dying to know what you thought of the execution!


	7. A Date With A View

Gabriel didn't enjoy the leaps and hurdles of being a vigilante now that he went on the straight and narrow. He wanted to make amends in the universe for his crimes, to somehow bring some sense of peace to himself after Horizon went offline. Lucky criminals could be cocky and declare their crimes online before pulling off their heists - that was all motivation he needed to foil the assholes who had no idea who was going to drop on them during a robbery.

The media was confused along with the police. Was Reaper intentionally thwarting heists and kidnappings? Yes, but like hell any credible new source would report it as fact when he had several ridiculously large bounties on his head across several galaxies.

Jack seemed impressed by them and even printed out the articles to keep in a binder labeled ‘Our Hero’. That was more than enough to keep Gabriel motivated even if it was troublesome to make out what was a real heist declaration and not a police/bounty hunter bait.

They met once a month in some obscure bar on a backwater planet or colony then go for a night on the town, making the most of some of the shitiest dives several galaxies had to offer. Jack’s abdomen growing rounder as the eggs continued to grow inside of him. Gabriel stuck close to Jack’s side, his form changed to a different alien species every time they met up. Even Jack was wearing fake face grafts to change his facial structures and hairstyle to throw off anyone who might think he’s anyone important as well. 

Today’s date marked the fourth month Jack took in Gabriel's clutch and they became something much closer as their offspring slowly grew in the eggs inside Jack. In two more months Gabriel will pause his vigilante duties to stay beside Jack while the incubator carries on the task of bringing the little ones into the world. Jack seemingly had all the free time in the world now since he was bribed to retire since the police department on Jack’s colony was ‘uncomfortable’ with a male human on their roster being unnaturally impregnated by an alien. A couple million dollar backdoor negotiation later to prevent a lengthy discrimination lawsuit, Jack had most of his new found wealth in investments managed by his stockbroker father while they both lived in a small house on a backwater colony for cheap.

“So, how is John handling the whole secondhand market for buying premium incubators thing?” Gabriel asked in amusement, his nanites twisted his appearance to make him look like one of the harpies that congregated on this colony to blend in. Jack, on the other hand, seemed more amazed that he was actually on a colony with a ridiculously high ceiling and spiral platformed buildings that seemed to extend endlessly into the sky.

“He’s still not too happy about how long and tedious the process is regardless that you warned him about it months ago.” Jack sighed as he adjust the straps of the hard light belly protector that emitted an invisible barrier over his stomach and back like medieval armor. At least hard light emitter tech was advanced enough to let air and such through so he wouldn’t be caked in sweat and allow him sit down at a table without bumping it constantly with the barrier. “Hopefully the seller will actually pass it off to us in two weeks or so. I’m getting sick of dad just shit talking the guy at the dinner table.” He grumbled in annoyance, letting himself be pulled up against Gabriel’s thin frame by a winged arm around his waist.

They continued walking on the ‘ground floor’ - basically what the residents called the street-level area where most of the non-harpies lived and got accommodations under the spiral metal structures that branched up into the sky like trees. There were several lift systems in place to allow non-flying residents up to the ‘skyline’ and old fashioned spiral stairs at the base of the trees to allow traditional foot traffic up to the building platforms above. Gabriel could fly in his form but wasn’t confident in his ability to take Jack up with him, meaning they either pay for the lift passes or walk up the staircase. Jack honestly felt like he would get tetanus just by looking at the rusted-to-hell railings when they approached the staircase for the ‘free’ climbing option.

Gabriel grimaced at the sorry state of the staircase railing and how long the climb up to the first platform would be. “Yeaaaaah, we’re not going that route, Jackie.”

Jack frowned as he glanced over at his partner beside him. There were quite a few people taking the stairs so clearly it couldn’t be THAT bad. “I think you’re being overly cautious, Gabe. A day pass for two on the lifts isn’t that bad of an investment considering all the skylines are connected by them.”

“Yeah, but, the lifts aren’t that fast and we have a dinner date on the tenth platform here.” Gabriel countered before taking his hand off Jack and walking over to one of the more muscular harpies that was hanging around with a group by the stairs.

Jack tensed up, hoping that Gabriel wasn’t going to do something stupid to save them money over a date. Last thing he wanted was for them to be banned off one of these accessible backwater colonies that actually had a decent population for once. “Gabe…!” Jack hissed softly to his partner, trying to vocalize his discomfort without drawing too much attention to himself. Gabe just shook his head and continued towards the group of buff harpies.

“Hey.” Gabriel spoke as he raised a hand in greeting to the group.

“Need something?” The yellow feathered harpy closest to Gabriel asked as he turned, the group’s attention falling on Gabriel while they sized him up.

“Yeah, actually! My partner and I need to get to the tenth platform. Can you help a guy out for some credits?” Gabriel asked politely, gesturing his thumb towards Jack over his shoulder without turning around. The yellow feathered harpy and his group craned their heads around Gabriel to look over at Jack as the human sheepishly waved back at them before they looked back at Gabriel.

“Sure. 10 creds for floor ten sound fair?” The blonde harpy asked as he gave Gabriel a smile in return, setting down the bag he had on his back to start pulling out and putting on a rather hefty-looking, two-person harness. “Anything I should know about your friend? Any medical conditions to look out for?”

“Pregnant. Clutch.” Gabriel simply provided and the blonde harpy nodded his head.

“Five credits extra for a smoother ride?” 

“I don’t see a problem with that.” Gabriel reached into his pocket to pull out his credit chit, setting the transfer to fifteen credits while the harpy’s group did a safety check on both harnesses. They ended up pausing to swap out a weak-looking support strap on the passenger harness before the blonde brought out his own chip and accepted the transfer. “Nick! We’re ready to load you up!” Gabriel called to Jack, using his fake public name.

Jack placed a hand protectively over his belly, covered by a thin jacket and the hard light tech as he walked over to the group. The red feathered harpy was very kind as he gently guided Jack over to his blonde companion and helped him get the harness on. He wasn’t used to this kind of transportation but the group eagerly talked him through it along with Gabriel as they got all of the straps in place and ran double checks by the other members of the group to make sure everything was secure for his flight. “I’m nervous, Gabe… Can’t we just use the lift…?”

Gabriel smiled reassuringly at Jack and stepped in close to rub his beak against Jack’s nose affectionately, playing the part of a sweet harpy lover to a ‘T’. “I’ll be flying right next to you, Jackie. You’ll be okay.”

“It’s like your mate says. I’ll fly smooth and carefully with ya. If you want to stop on a platform to catch you breath on the climb up, don’t hesitate to ask, alright?” The blonde reassured Jack even though Jack couldn’t turn around to see his face while he was strapped to the harpy’s chest like a parachute buddy. 

“Thanks.” Jack sighed, still nervous as his hands protective shielded his stomach.

“Tarps is right, Lad.” The red harpy spoke up, placing a reassuring hand on Jack’s shoulder. “He’s handled lads and lassies in your state before. We’ll all keep an eye on ya from down here if it makes ya feel any better.”

Okay, that was a bit more reassuring to hear. Jack smiled gratefully and nodded his head as he was instructed to tuck hold his knees loosely when the blonde harpy and Gabriel crouched down to prepare for take off. Wings spread out far as Jack felt himself being lifted up like he weighed nothing when Tarps dashed off with Gabriel parallel next to him, both picking up speed as their talons on their feet dug into the dirt. A sharp jump upwards drew a yell from Jack’s lungs as he was carried airborne.

“HOOOOLLLLYYY- !!!”

Gabriel was laughing so hard as both he and Tarps circled left, the ground torn further from Jack’s view as the three of them smoothly began their ascent upwards in a spiral around the tree. Jack literally had tears flying painfully off the side of his face and thankful that he was holding his legs to himself the best he could to support his bump from being dragged on by the air. They were pretty much ascending on level with the staircase, Jack feeling more content by watching the residents go by as they sped past them on their way up. 

It was mundane but exciting now that he had something to focus on but the ground going further and further away from them, his eyes opening when they flew further over to the right to pass the first platform. Jack felt his lips turn to a smile as he saw the metal buildings, thinking the architecture was more like a steampunk film than the futuristic stuff he was used to on the colony he patrolled on five months ago. Although harpies dominated the colony and there were plenty of obvious hints of that in regards to the many open landing and takeoff areas that peppered the platforms, he couldn’t help but be amazed at watching the aliens and few humans interact with each other in the open square that was surrounded by shops, restaurants and what he guessed was small office buildings judging by the suits that came out. Gabriel always told him that ‘backwater’ planets and colonies didn’t have to mean ‘lacking charm and character’ because this place was incredibly accessible and beautiful in its own way.

“Everything good? Need me to make a stop?” Tarps asked loudly as they wind continued to whip at Jack’s ears.

“No! I’m good!” Jack yelled back to the blonde harpie, a smile still pulling at his lips as they picked up speed, soaring higher since Jack didn’t need to take a breather. His blue eyes glanced over to his right, red eyes looking back at him for a moment before Gabriel turned his attention back to flying. Gabriel looked incredible as he flew, black feathers fluttering at the tips as they glided in the wind before he pumped his arms to climb up in the air beside Tarps. The white skull was absent for obvious reasons since it was like a trademark of Gabe’s normal form but Jack secretly wished it to be on his lover’s harpy form where it would look beautiful in contrast to the black feathers on his head. He definitely needed to take pictures with Gabe in this form, that was for certain.

The warm wind felt so nice against his face, the calm winds allowing for smooth flight as Jack was given a scenic tour of Skyline 1. He really wished he had his phone out so he could record and archive this memory forever but didn’t want to risk losing his phone or letting go of his legs. It was a shame because who knew if Jack and Gabe would ever be able to come back to such an incredible colony, especially with the kids. 

Jack felt warmth in his chest as he imagined Gabriel flying about with a little one strapped to his father while Jack aimed his camera to record the scene from the porch of their backyard. Well, Jack mostly envisioned Gabriel in his natural form as a hetantan, using his hands to carry one or two of their kids while his tendrils handled the other little scamps. Jack would offer to hold them, of course, but he could see Gabe wanting Jack’s hands to be free while he recorded Gabe with the kiddies. Sure, maybe it was a lot to hope that the clutch inside of him will produce that many kids. Hetantan generally didn't have a lot of success with an average of only three out of ten egg clutches producing offspring and they were already down two eggs from Jack’s surgery…

He felt remorse for the removed eggs regardless of both Gabriel and the doctor he had at the hospital reassuring him that they were likely defective and that it was good they were removed quickly. It wouldn't occur to him until his belly started to bulge out a bit on the second month that he lost two potential offspring and that it would lower their chances of successfully having a family together on the first try. Jack hated the idea the eggs were ‘defective’ even though he logically knew that it wasn't meant to be. That he would have lost more than just those two eggs with the lack of a proper enema and diet change prior to coupling with Gabe since the human large intestine was anything but a proper place to nurture eggs in his body.

Jack could have died if Jesse didn't take him to the hospital right after they failed to capture Reaper.

It was a dark and sobering reality that Jack and Gabriel woke up from when Jack informed him on their first reunion date together.

The rest of the platforms on the way up were similar to the first one with an open town center surrounded by shops and small buildings. It wasn't until Tarps and Gabriel landed on the fifth platform that the layout changed, it was a bunch of pools with plenty of deck chairs and food stalls around the area to get across the idea that this was a relaxation platform. There was a lot of sand in the landing and takeoff zone, drawing a huge sigh of relief from Gabriel when he landed beside them, Jack letting his feet come down so Tarps wouldn't have to support his weight when they were on the ground.

Tarps chuckled as he turned towards Gabriel, them both moving off to the side to an area by the landing and takeoff zone marked ‘rest area’. “I figured you were from one of the other Skylines since I ain't seen you before but I guess you’re visiting from outside?”

Gabriel looked at Tarps curiously as he was still trying to catch his breath. “Is it my lack of stamina that gives me away?” He laughs, doing a very good job of staying in character in Jack’s opinion. 

Tarps smiled easily at that. “Yep. Your first time in a vertically orientated colony?” He asked Jack suddenly. “Your mate seems to understand the nature of us verties and giving rides for a small fee but you were looking at the stairs like they were gonna eat you.” He teased playfully, making Jack’s face burn in embarrassment.

“Yeah…” Jack chuckled nervously. “Figured us out pretty easily.”

“It’s alright if you both are visiting from a horizontal oriented colony. It’s nice to see a harpy bringing his ground-based mate to our little corner of the galaxy for the vertical experience. ‘Brings out character’ my grandfather always says.” Tarps declared proudly with a light-hearted chuckle at the end as he gently pushed Gabriel's shoulder like they were good friends laughing at a joke.

“Hellova workout.” Gabriel chuckled nervously as he looked over at Jack for a moment before looking back at Tarps. His present exhaustion making it clear why he had someone used to this kind of strenuous activity carry Jack instead of doing it himself. “How long does it take a horizontal to get used to flying up to platform five usually?” He asked curiously before preening his flight feathers with his beak.

Tarps hummed at that as he rocked back and forth on his feet in the sand. “If they were in your shape? Probably a solid month of going from ground floor to P-5 and back twice a day. Winds are pretty gentle and consistent around this particular skyline but other ones are set to be more rough for the ones looking for a challenge. That’s purely a resort skyline though and there’s no shame using their fancy lifts there, even for regular flyers.” He explained casually, Jack nodding his head in keen interest. Jack had no idea they could specialize the climate system to blow unique air currents onto each individual skyline. “You got your second wind yet?” Tarps asked Gabriel when he was finished with his feathers.

“Yeah. Might need to rest on P-8 for a minute or two though.”

“That’s fine. No need to push yourself if you’re on vacation and just want to save money.” 

Gabriel smiled in relief at that. “Thanks.”

Jack resumed his semi-leg tuck to his chest when Tarps and Gabe moved back onto the take off platform, not feeling nervous what so bit as Tarps sprinted to the edge of the platform and pushed back off into the sky, Gabriel not too far behind them. They continued with their usual flying routine as they moved up the skyline in long circles, moving outwards to dodge the platforms before continuing their climb. Gabriel did get his break on the eighth platform, Tarps leading him to a fresh open fountain meant for drinking that churned fresh water out from the spout in the center and continued to praise Gabriel’s tenacity to keep him motivated for the last leg of the flight to the tenth platform. 

It was a relief for Jack and especially Gabriel when they landed onto the sand pile, Gabe collapsing onto his stomach as he wheezed, completely spread eagle in the sand. Tarps was in good spirits as he leaned over, letting Jack brush his fingers over his partner’s head feathers before they moved off to the sides where Tarps was helping Jack get free from his harness. Gabriel was still lying shamelessly in the sand, other flyers moving past him in the landing zone since Gabriel couldn’t get much farther than the edge when he landed. It must be pretty common place to see exhausted flyers catching their breath on the landing zone the higher you went on the skyline platforms.

Tarps was busy removing his own harness and carefully folding up the two person harness into the sack he had on his back. Looking over with a friendly smile at Jack while Jack was busy wondering if and how he should drag Gabe’s exhausted body off the runway. “So, you two staying the night on platform ten tonight? Gonna need a lift later? I can give you my work number.”

Jack chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m actually not quite sure what are plans are after dinner. He’s the one who set everything up.” He gestured to the collapsed pile of feathers that were struggling to get up.

“Oh. I gotcha.” Tarps spoke before pulling his sack back onto his back and walking over to Gabriel. “Need some help there, Buddy?”

“Please.” Gabriel begged, Tarps moving down quickly to scoop Gabriel up carefully in his arms like he weighed nothing and carried him to safety where Jack was waiting off to the side past the barrier to keep foot traffic off the runways. Jack had his camera out and was snapping pictures of Gabriel being carried like a princess by the blonde harpy. It was too good to pass up.

“Gonna repeat the question I asked your mate here. You guys going to stay on P-10 or will you be needing a lift back down to the ground? I don’t have anywhere to be until two am tonight.” Tarps offered as he carefully helped Gabriel down onto his feet, supporting his weight in case he was still too exhausted to stand up on his own. Gabriel was able to stand up on his own, but leaned slightly against Jack as he did some leg and wing stretches.

“No. We’ll be staying in a hotel here on P-10 but I could use some help flying my mate here back down to the ground tomorrow.” Gabriel replied, Jack unzipping the small sack on Gabe’s back where their phones, Jack’s pregnancy-related pills, Jack’s camera bag, and portable first aid kit was kept to take out Gabe’s phone to hand it to his partner. The rest of their luggage was already taken care off and brought to their room by the hotel staff earlier when they arrived at the colony. Gabriel unlocked his phone before handing it over to Tarps so the blonde harpy could start entering in his information into his contact listing. It was just a burner phone so it wouldn’t be a problem for tarps to see it.

“Sure. What time do you guys plan on leaving to come back down to ground floor?”

“Nine in the morning.”

Tarps nodded his head as he finished entering in his information, saved it, and handed Gabe back his phone which Jack took and placed back into the sack before zipping it up. “Give me a call and I’ll meet you guys by the runway, alright? It’ll be fifteen for the ride down, will that be alright?”

“Yeah. Sounds like a plan. Thanks for guiding us up here, Tarps.” Gabriel smiled.

“It was a smoother ride than I thought it would be. Thanks again.” Jack added before they went their separate ways, Tarps heading for the runway while Gabriel and Jack headed for the restaurant.

\--

Although Gabriel said that they had ‘reservations’ for a restaurant, what he really meant was ‘I want to go to this particular mom and pop place to pick up a meal to go so we can eat together at a picnic table or something’. Luckily, this place had an outdoor patio and free cups of water so Jack could make himself some yogurt from the pre-made packet, sprinkling in his afternoon medicine that he could take with the food and started eating it with a spoon Gabe took from the utensil bin. Gabriel was eating some strange, wrapped meat and prefaced the inevitable discussion it would bring up with a ‘don’t ask about it’ disclaimer. 

Right, it’s not like Jack can eat anything that wasn’t part of his restricted diet anyways but he understood that it was also better not to ask in some cases with the local food for non-human-majority planets and colonies. At least the weather was very nice since it was an hour or two before ‘sundown’ here.

“So, how’s your abdomen doing?” Gabriel asked after swallowing down a rather large lump of the ‘mystery’ meat. “You feeling dizzy or any unpleasant tightness in your bowels?” 

Jack shook his head as he brought a scoop of the plain yogurt to his lips and swallowed it down slowly as to not create lumps or something. He was a bit paranoid these days with his bowel movements even though the meds were good at preventing solid but still manageable stool that wouldn’t dislodge or pull on the eggs that were attached to his intestinal lining when it passed through. “Fine. I was being honest when I said the flight was smooth.”

“Alright. You want to walk around a bit after this and check out the shops?”

“Yeah!” Jack smiled early at that. “We can take pictures and maybe bring home a souvenir so my dad won’t be so sour about me being halfway across the universe.” He huffed in annoyance while Gabriel rolled his eyes at that before they both smiled. “Hey, Gabe?”

“Hm?” He replied after taking another bite out of his food.

“I just want to say that this is a lot of fun. You bringing me to different parts of the universe. It’s nice to get out of my head once and awhile and also have something to look forward to each month.” Jack scoops another spoonful and puts it in his mouth slowly licking the tasteless glob off the plastic spoon bit by bit mechanically. He pulled it out of his mouth when he finished and began stirring the contents of his cup idly. “It’s a lot to deal with, you know. Having all the free time in the world but still afraid to take a step outside for a walk to rid myself of cabin fever. Today, what we did, flying up to the platform rather than use a lift or walk up - I don’t know why I agreed to go through with it; putting the eggs and myself in danger by letting myself get strapped to a harpy’s chest when he wasn’t government authorized or anything to reassure me that I would be in good hands.” Jack admitted quietly, Gabriel pausing before setting his wrap down on his paper plate and reaching for his own cup of water to drink from.

“You’re right, Jackie. I didn’t explain anything about the culture of harpies and their drive for hospitality of ground walkers to encourage more tourism of vertical colonies like this one. You must have been terrified.” Gabriel admits somberly as he set his cup back down on the table.

Jack hesitantly nods his head, wanting to be a more honest person in order to help Gabriel understand humans better. Gabriel seemed to see Jack as some sort of super being after all he went through even though it was more like the devil’s luck than him unknowingly being Clark Kent. “I mean, it wasn't too bad once we were in the air. I actually found myself having a bit of fun.” He added not wanting to discount the enjoyment factor that also came with the flight. “I just want to be informed of your plans instead of having them sprung on me. Some things are better off discussed between us rather than just assuming I will like something as a surprise. Does that make sense?”

Gabriel frowned, making Jack scowl lightly at him as he avoided looking at him. “I’ll admit that I should have talked to you about the alternative transportation methods here. I’m just- I’m not sure what your comfort zones are regarding a lot of things because you never really say anything otherwise until afterwards.” He confessed, red eyes glancing sheepishly back over at blue ones across the table from him.

Jack frowned at that valid criticism. He was new to all sorts of things the universe had to provide, especially after they resumed dating after Jack quit his job. “That’s… I get what you mean. I’ll try to make it a bit more vocally obvious if I find a situation or idea uncomfortable, okay? Sound fair?” Jack smiled, reassuring his partner across the table with a mutual pledge to do right by the other and communicate more. 

Gabriel seemed to relax at that, returning the smile. They could work together on this. Just because it was a fast and heated romance in the beginning didn't mean that they were doomed by the first problems that came their way. Jack and Gabriel were adults who did genuinely want it to work out, regardless of how difficult it would be. His heart blossomed Gabriel's easy smile and body language that showed him to be putting his full attention on Jack. 

“You okay, Jackie?” Gabriel snickered teasingly as he looked at Jack. “You got quite the pretty smile on your face.”

Jack felt his cheeks warm under that vocal observation and he brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “I can't help it when I’m around a guy that makes me laugh and thinks my scars look good.” He chuckled happily as he reached back down to pick up his cup and spoon to continue eating his yogurt diligently. He can flirt and eat at the same time unlike a certain hetantan that he won't name.

“Oh? He makes you laugh and thinks you’re handsome?” Gabriel purred, propping his chin up with the palm of his hand as he rested his elbow on the table while raising a brow at Jack in amusement. “Anyone can do that. Are you that easy to make smile, Jackie?” He continued, making Jack fidget in his chair as he resisted the temptation to laugh, and just focus on finishing his lunch.

“You’re the worst. Please stop. I got hungry kids to feed here.” Jack snickers as he puts another spoonful into his mouth, his cheeks hurting from how hard he was smiling.

“Oh? Now you’re saying KIDS make you smile?” Gabriel asks incredulously and Jack is trying to not make his yogurt come out his nose. 

“Please stop. I’ll get the police! You can't harass me like this when I'm pregnant and on a date!” 

Now Gabriel is the one laughing as Jack played right along with him, both partners being absolute weirdos in public. It was this kind of easy and impulsive back and forth that had Jack relaxing and Gabriel not jumping at the shadows; an atmosphere where they could forget Gabe was a galactic menace and Jack his theoretically easy-to-kidnap pregnant lover.

Once they finished lunch and got rid of their garbage, they went souvenir shopping together; Jack’s hand being carefully held in Gabriel's taloned hand as they walked side-by-side. The platform wasn't too crowded as they went from store to store, observing harpy business culture and making fun observations of devices that made their lives easier. Gabriel was a huge killjoy by physically picking up Jack and carrying his lover away from the first secondhand shop Jack tried to sneak away into.

“Sweetheart! Come on!” Gabriel pleaded as Jack squirmed in a determined manner in his arms, trying to drag him away from the shop. “You know you can’t flat out buy an incubator in these shops! We’ve been over this!” 

“Maybe harpies aren't so stingy with their incubators! We got to at least ask!”

“It’s a cultural thing! An EGG culture thing! Harpies are no different in this regard!” 

“Then at least let me look at their add-ons and spare parts, Darling!” Jack hissed the endearment, wanting to see the parts for himself in real life than just trusting pictures their seller sent them online. 

“Dearest, there’s an actual medical condition for what you are experiencing! You remember what the doctor called it?” Gabriel strained to smile as he was doing his best to not hurt Jack with his talons as the mania was clearly affecting him. The hard light barrier would keep his abdomen and the eggs safe but Jack’s clothing and skin was technically fair game to be cut on accident while he thrashed. 

“I just want to look! Stop being such an asshole!” Jack argued. “I do NOT have clutch fever!”

“Close, but, it’s a two part condition - ‘clutch AND NESTING fever’.” Gabriel explained as patiently while several harpies and their partners thankfully ignored Jack’s obvious signs or at least gave both of them empathetic looks since the condition was very common in first and second time egg-carrying expectant parents. 

“What’s wrong with me wanting to go into a second-hand store? Huh? Maybe I want a rice cooker!” 

Gabriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes and carefully set his partner back down on his feet after he stopped struggling and wanted to try debating this out instead of acting like a nest-head. “Okay, I’ll play ball with you on this one since you’re bringing up your experience in human versions of second-hand stores. The store in front of us is actually harpy exclusive. Some heavily integrated space colonies do accommodate multiple species in their stores but it’s important to note that we’re in a harpy-majority colony AND we’re on the tenth platform. It takes more effort and time for humans to come up the lifts and stairs so there’s less human-accommodating stores the higher you go on the platforms. Restaurants and hotels are the exceptions here rather than the standard when it comes keeping other species in mind.”

Jack was scowling, honest-to-god scowling at Gabriel like he kicked his puppy or something rather than trying to explain the reality of the situation to someone as ignorant as him. At the very least, he was calmer and wasn’t trying to bolt away from him or anything. He was listening and taking it all in regardless of his need to devote himself to almost frantically to researching everything regarding what to do after he had his operation to take out the eggs in a few months. It was that kind of anxiety and the potential to overspend to bring some form of reassurance to new egg-laying parents that brought about the clinical diagnosis along with laws in certain galaxies that prohibited exploitive business practice that fed on their fears. Obviously a human born and raised in human-dominated galaxy would be unaware of such laws, even as a former beat cop.

“You sure they won’t have some form of human-relevant supplies inside or ones that we can repurpose?” He asked curiously, and frowned when Gabriel shook his head.

“Not likely, Jack. The kind of goods they stock there would mostly be relevant for harpies like gently used beak and talon trimmers, and the like. A raw meat diet usually means less of a need for electronical equipment used to cook meals as well.”

Jack sighed in disappointment, begrudgingly moving away from the store front as he took Gabriel’s hand and continued walking with him to more general stores for different species. Maybe he did have nesting fever if he couldn’t even think about those details himself in that moment. He would need to talk to the doctor more about it at the next appointment visit in a week and get more details out of her on the subject. For now though? Jack just wanted to enjoy his date with Gabriel and maybe take a gift home or two while he was at it.

Apparently, that was on Gabriel’s mind as well and much more after they arrived in the hotel and went to their room. Latches on the door quickly secured before Gabriel shifted back into his hetantan body from the harpy disguise. Jack lead him over to the queen-sized bed and had Gabriel lay down on his stomach as he pulled out a bottle of massage oil from his pack to go to work on his lover’s sore body. He was getting better at holding his forms for longer periods of time but still needed a little TLC once they were in the safety of their room to work out the pain in his muscles and joints before Gabriel would return the favor afterwards.

A laugh left Jack’s lips after Gabriel carefully assisted Jack in removing his ‘armor’ and clothing, using his tendrils instead of his claws so he wouldn’t risk damaging anything important. Jack felt relief to his sore lower back as two tendrils, coated in massage oil, worked the muscles groups, showing off how far Gabriel was coming to learn more about the human body since the last time they were together a month ago. He wanted to care for Jack’s body and not always in an entirely sexual manner either though it was clear he had been watching some naughty vids with some of the new tricks he picked up since the first time they made love.

With Jack’s body now completely naked, the tendrils that were assisting with Jack’s clothing guided Jack onto his side, pillows propping up pressure points to relieve any stress. They were laying side by side and facing each other on the bed, Gabriel scooting down a bit so he was eye-to-eye with Jack before leaning into to kiss his lover. Jack felt his heart flutter from the from contact of Gabriel’s thin lips against his own plush ones, bringing up his own hand to try to cup the side of Gabriel’s face affectionate as they held the kiss for a long moment. Gabriel humming in satisfaction, no longer ignorant to how humans kissed but clearly delighted when Jack started brushing his lips back and forth against Gabriel’s - their own way of kissing that they never grew tired of. He brushed his lips in counter to Jack’s creating a pleasant friction that had the satisfying purr vibrating from Gabriel’s throat in response.

The tendrils on Jack’s back continued to work on the sore muscles while the longer ones pulled up a small black bag onto the bed by Gabriel. Gabriel drew back for a moment and slowly unzipped the bag, Jack’s cock fully erect and bobbing with interest since he knew what was usually contained in said bag.

“What do you think you can handle today, Jackie?” Gabriel purred sensually, leaving the bag untouched after he finished unzipping it to bring his hand to cup Jack’s chin and teasingly ran his sharp talon carefully over the plump and sensitive flesh of his lower lip.

Jack felt a bead of precum drip from his tip to the bed as he swallowed at that, enjoying the way those red eyes looked at his adam’s apple bob in an appetizing manner. “Please…” He pleaded weakly to Gabriel, drawing an amused chuckle from the hetantan.

“I know you want me to dominate your body, Jackie, but, I’m going to need you to tell me what you can handle first. Just a little conversation and then you can lose your mind with no fear at all.”

Jack nipped hard on his lower lip, feeling Gabriel’s talon that was resting on it now pressed against his upper one - the sharp tip barely pressed between his lips inside of his mouth. Gabriel sucked in a breath lightly through his teeth, likely seeing how horny his partner was through his eagerness.

“Jackie.” Gabriel emphasized, clearly aroused by the thrill but still had enough sense to stay patient through Jack’s teasing. “I’ll let you suck on my upper dick and swallow my cum if you talk pretty to me.”

Jack chuckled in a husky manner as he looked at Gabriel through heavily lidded eyes. “Is that a promise?”

A tendril snaked its way down and pressed its tip lightly against Jack, the contact drawing a shudder and a roll of jack’s hips as he sought further friction from the dull curved tip. Gabriel chuckled darkly at Jack’s flushed expression, clearly loving the way the red brightened his ears all the way down to the top of his chest. “That and sooo much more, Jackie. I just need you to tell me how far you want to go today.” He purred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for the sex with Jackie having eggies inside of him! 
> 
> How kinky will our guys go next chapter? Find out next time in part two!
> 
> Please leave a review if you enjoy the chapter or want to leave a valid criticism of what you don't like! I reply to all reviews as soon as possible!


	8. How it goes

Getting consent and details has never aroused Jack so much in his entire life. If only porn made it sound just half as hot as Gabriel made it when they set boundaries for each of their bedroom sessions…

“I- I don’t think I want to be penetrated in my ass right now.” Jack spoke, squirming as the tendril teasing Jack’s cock tip made a slow, agonizing circle over his head that had Jack borderline keening when it spread the beads of precum Jack was pushing out to lubricate the contact further. “Sounding…! Please. I want those rods in my dick and then you fucking the inside to make me cum deep, G-Gabe!”

Jack was rewarded with one tendril that was massaging Jack’s upper back slithering lower to apply a light smack to his ass, making Jack buck in response, and drawing out a low whine from the human’s throat as the tendril teasing his tip expanded to cover his entire dick down to his base. Several smaller tendrils branched out from the base, moving through the silver fur near the man’s dick before they curled around clumps of the hair and held them in a light but firm manner that had Jack moaning shamelessly.

“Alright. I can work with not playing with your asshole, Jackie. Any other requests? Want me to play with your tits again?” Gabriel asked teasingly, reaching his hand into the bag to pull out the container that had the sanitized sounding rods within and gingerly laid it down in front of Jack’s face between them on the bed to further build up anticipation. “I couldn't help but notice how perky they have been.” He spoke as he reached across with one arm to grasp the firm flesh of Jack’s pectoral carefully in his clawed hand, giving it a light squeeze to draw a gasp from his silver-haired fox.

“If you’re… Human men don’t get bigger breasts if they’re carrying eggs, G-Gabe.” Jack explained, as he rocked his hips forward, wanting the tendrils holding his cock hostage to provide some stimulation.

Gabriel clicked his tongue in disappointment at that. “Seriously? Talk about taking the fun out of your pregnancy.” He chuckled, not really put off as he made himself seem while Jack just rolled his eyes at that. “Anyways, can I eat your ass out or is that a ‘no’?” Gabriel asked in a casual but curious manner to his mate. Jack nipped his powers lip sheepishly before shaking his head - no. He shrugged his shoulders at that. “Eh. Was worth a try. I’ll entertain myself in other ways.” Gabriel grinned in amusement.

“Go to town so long as it doesn't involve my asshole, Gabe. My butt is not part of that exception in case you are curious.” Jack added, wiggling his ass for emphasis even though he was facing forward towards Gabriel. Gabriel playfully waggled his brows at that to make Jack laugh before leaning in to kiss his lips, them both failing because they were having trouble not smiling at that.

“Okay, how do your knees feel right now? Need me to apply some pain relieving cream or is the pillow doing fine right now?” Gabriel asked after they pulled away from each other’s lips, pointing down to the pillow that was currently relieving pressure between Jack’s knees while he was laying on his side. Jack knew why he was asking, Gabriel probably planned on edging him or something for a little while and wanted to make sure he was very comfortable before wrecking him. 

“No, I’m comfortable right now. I’ll let you know if I need position adjustments when you restrain me, Gabe.” He grinned knowingly, making the hetantan’s face flush a lighter color over his cheeks.

“Mouthy little bastard, aren’t ya?” Gabriel growled as Jack smiled smugly back at him while waggling his brows suggestively.

“Make me shut up then.” 

“Two snaps of your fingers to make me stop.” Was all Gabriel offered before more tendrils sprouted from his back, restraining Jack in place like firm black rope while also padding his joints along with the pillows to reduce the stress on them. They continued to thread their way up until they reached Jack’s arms and wrapped around his wrists to pull them up and behind his head to push his chest forward. A pillow was slipped under his head by a tendril before it went back in front of Jack and slipped into his hot, greedy mouth.

Jack arched his back and let out a muffled moan of approval as he was tied up. His wet tongue rolling up and down the wiggling tendril trying to outmaneuver him to try to properly suck on it. Gabriel brought his own hand down on Jack’s ass firmly, drawing an eager whimper from his human mate as he grinned mischievously. Jack couldn’t move his hands or feet to try bring himself closer to Gabriel's front, wanting to tease him by pressing his filled belly to his love’s own to taunt him. It was then that Jack realized that he played himself by letting Gabriel restrain him AND occupy his mouth to keep him from talking.

“Gonna snap your fingers?” Gabriel asked, Jack scowling with his mouth around the tendril that was still denying his tongue the contact he wanted from it. He stubbornly shook his head ‘no’ at the thought that he would cave to a little teasing from Gabriel. “Alright. No problem.” He responded casually before bringing his hand down to spank Jack’s ass again then moving a tiny tendril in the sack over Jack’s dick to tease his cock head again.

Jack choked on a whine from the intense sensation of the tendril on his cock becoming active again and finally pulled his head far back enough so that he was sucking eagerly on the tendril in his mouth. Gabriel visibly shuddered from the titillating view of his pregnant mate arching beautifully against him and working his lips and tongue vigorously on what he wished was his cock at the moment. 

Gabriel carefully pressed the precise tip of his tendril against Jack’s urethral open, slowly pushing it in and letting Jack’s body adjust to the wanted intrusion of the appendage. Jack’s cock pulsed as he trembled from how intense the pleasure was as it then slid downwards to the root of his cock. He loved this kind of play from Gabriel, the hetantan’s body one versatile sex toy when they had the time to indulge in their bodily wants. Jack always returned the favor eagerly, of course, but Gabriel was insistent that Jack always get his needs met first since he was carrying the eggs. The tendril inside Jack helped delay his orgasm as his body sought the white hot release from Gabriel's constant torment, especially with the tendril in his mouth cooperating to act like a tongue instead of dodging his own.

Gabriel kept up his fun until Jack was edged to the point where he felt satisfied in letting Jack come, the tendril in his urethral retreating as Jack loudly grunted with each buck of his hips. The tendril moved to stroked Jack cock as frantically as he needed it to be as Jack came hard, his body trembling beautifully and trying to let out long muffled whines with every string of cum Gabriel pumped out of him. Gabriel eased off teasing Jack’s body and cock when he was done giving what he could from that, the tendrils absorbing the fluid to keep everything clean before retracting his tendrils all together.

Jack was smiling as Gabriel draped a hand over his waist, bringing his head down to press it against Jack’s sweaty one. “You were very good, Jackie. You feel good? Any pain anywhere?”

“No. I’m good. Stomach feels fine and that was so hot. I love it when you do that to me.” Jack panted softly to his lover as he enjoyed his blissful high, especially when Gabriel pulled a thin blanket over both of their bodies. “Can I return the favor in a bit?” 

Gabriel pressed a kiss to Jack’s forehead for being considerate of his obvious display of both of his penises when Jack’s leg ‘accidentally’ brushed against them at that question. “Yes, but rest first, alright?”

Jack huffed sarcastically at his concern “Worrywart.”

Gabriel smiled at that as they relaxed in the bed together. “All with good reason, Jackie. All with good reason.”

\--

A few months passed and Jack grew more anxious the closer he got to his C-section date. Gabriel insisted on having their dates closer to Jack’s home galaxy, regardless of the dangers that came with Gabe’s ship being spotted in heavily patrolled space by both the police and bounty hunters alike. He told Jack that it was worth the risk to make sure both he and his father were doing okay, especially with the many tests they were putting the incubator through after it arrived two months before the coveted day. Gabriel was rather fond of the little chicks they hatched and built a coop for in the backyard since Jack’s dad wanted to keep them around after they successfully hatched in the incubator’s various test runs.

He couldn't stay for more than a hour every few days in the house but it put Jack at ease to know that Gabriel loved him dearly and was excited to see life take hold in the incubator. Soon, it would be their little ones crawling out of their shells instead of little blue chicks for John’s coop. 

“You think things will be easier once they’re in the incubator, Gabe?” Jack asked with a hint of worry in his voice as he laid in bed with Gabriel, his head tucked under his partner’s chin as they did nothing but enjoy the quiet moment between them.

Gabriel chuckled fondly at that as he brought his hand up to lightly pat Jack’s cheek. “You ask me that every time I pop by, Jackie. My answer is always going to be the same.”

“‘The fun and smelly diapers really begin when they come out of their shells’, huh?” Jack snickered as he tilted his head up a few times to playfully bump the top of his head under Gabriel’s chin. It had the instant effect of drawing the laugh Jack wanted from Gabriel as the hetantan gently rubbed Jack’s back though his shirt with his filed down claws.

“Oh yeah. You’re going to love having hetantan traits in our kids, Jackie. We don’t defecate as often as humans need to though urinating is what we’re gonna have to change the diapers for.” He purred sweetly regardless of the gross topic at hand. “John will be integral in helping us wraggle up the younglings and keep them occupied.”

“And one of us will have to be on night shift?” Jack sighed sarcastically, making Gabriel bring his hand up to lightly shove Jack’s shoulder in a playful manner.

“It’s that or take out the door knob. They’re going to grab anything and everything with their talons and tendrils and be climbing around before you know it.”

Jack rolled his eyes at that as he smirked. “They are going to be in the incubator for their first two months of life, Gabe. Way too tiny to cause damage.”

Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. “You never know. The human genetics they get could possibly speed up their growth. Humans don’t live as long as hetantan do but halflings should ideally mature faster if they get even half of the lifespan a hetantan does.”

“Mmm…” Jack noncommittally agreed, not liking the idea of passing away before Gabriel and leaving him alone but had some reassurance that their kids will keep him happy long after Jack is returned to the ground. 

He wouldn’t think about such a sad future when he glances down at his very visibly distended abdomen under his baggy shirt. Jack was going to go to the hospital in a week and would finally see what the eggs looked like after months of scouring the internet for pictures of human-hetantan eggs and barely found any legitimate material. He couldn’t wait to finally see what they look like once they are in the safety of their incubator and out of his body. Sonograms could only sate an eager father for so long, after all.

“You promise to port home the second day we’re home from the hospital, Gabe?” Jack found himself asking as he cuddled in closer to his partner, enjoying the comfort of Gabriel’s presence while Gabriel continued to rub soothing circles on his back.

Gabriel hummed in thought at that. “I’m not sure, Jackie. There are more hawks perched around the air space the closer you get to your c-section date. Who knows if they catch on to the fact that I’m using rentals to get close enough to port in here.” He reminded Jack. “It’s okay to be nervous but I want to be sure no one is any wiser to my appearances here at your house. I’d rather come late then show up and inspire someone to abduct you and our younglings for ransom, alright?”

Jack grumbled at that and buried his face into the crook of Gabriel’s neck to listen to the hetantan’s soothing purrs to calm his anxieties. He knew Gabriel was right. His partner’s over cautious nature may have cause one canceled date but that resulted in less vehicles stalking their home and their car when Jack’s father went out to get groceries. Jack always kept a gun and a concealed knife on him at all times in case some bounty hunter got too curious but they always kept their distance since Jack was a retired cop. He even went to a firing range every week to keep his marksmanship sharp and could do so without excuse since the area they lived was consider ‘rougher’ than most even though they lived out of the suburbs. Even Jack’s father got training to use a firearm along with a permit to keep one concealed on him like Jack did. 

No one was going to fuck with them and their kids. No one.

The alarm by the bed went off, the soft beeping repeating in the air as they two of them just quietly held each other knowing that their time was up. The alarm went off with a click without either of them moving, Gabriel using a tendril to shut it off before retracting it into his back. Jack felt tears build up in the corners of his eyes pathetically as he held onto Gabriel’s form tighter without pushing his belly to forcefully against his lover due to the eggs in him. The hand on Jack’s back resumed rubbing reassuring circles into the fabric, drawing his head away awkwardly to press kisses to the almost-silver head of hair Jack had now.

“Jackie…” Gabriel murmured reassuringly to his partner before pressing another kiss to the top of his head. “Jackie… Jackie… my star…” 

Jack choked on that as he openly sobbed, morning Gabriel’s, his mate’s, departure when things were getting hard for him to handle. He was so scared to go to the hospital since he always got more bad news whenever he went for a check up even when the kids were okay. The nerves in his legs were deteriorating slowly but it would likely be too late to save them with genetic therapy due to Jack not wanting to bring more risks to his children. 

Gabriel pushed back the covers on their hetantan-suitable bed, way too large for Jack to fill comfortably without his mate, and sat up before carefully scooping Jack up, mindful of his weakening legs. Jack’s hovering wheelchair sat on the ground beside the bed while it was not in use but ignoring it for the moment as he leaned down and kissed Jack in his arms. A pair of crutches were propped up in easy reach of the bed and Jack went right for them after Gabriel sat him down on the edge of them bed to let him decide what he felt strong enough to use. Gabriel got up and walked slowly with Jack by his side to the center of the spacious room since Jack always gave him plenty of space to port in and out of the house.

Jack rubbed his eyes with his forearm as he stood in front of his mate to see him off like he always did. Sadness was always part of their separation but he would stand in this spot two weeks from now with a loving smile to welcome Gabriel back home and introduce them to their ‘egg children’, as Gabriel called them. It was how Jack always had the strength to do this every time, lifting his head up as Gabriel leaned down to nuzzle the side of Jack’s head in the hetantan way of showing affection before pulling back to press his lips to Jack’s like a human pair would. With that, Gabriel took two steps back and smiled at Jack, pride in his many eyes as he started the process to shadow step back to his ride. Jack smiled weakly in return, doing his best to not break down sobbing as he felt a part of him leave when Gabriel finally disappeared from Jack’s world. 

This was the life he willingly chose. He is allowed to be upset, nervous, and have anxiety about his partner and Gabriel would always love him for being honest. It was a once-in-a-lifetime partnership that Jack never regretted taking up regardless of the difficulties that came with it. He was stronger now even with the consequences he lived with everyday and let his frustrations vent in a healthy manner because he had the best support he could ever wish for. A partner who loves him to pieces and a father who stands by his side now even more then when Jack was a kid growing up in his family home with the man.

He would be fine.

Jack would be just fine.

\--

Four eggs.

Four beautiful eggs laid peacefully in the incubator beside Jack’s bedside in his hospital room. Two of the eggs from the six Jack had inside of him never grew past one month and he mourned their loss quietly in the privacy of his room when he woke up from surgery to see them missing when he did a count of them. The human body is not meant to supply the nutrition the hetantan eggs needed to grow properly and he understood that it personally was not his fault for their inability to grow. He did everything right to carry the eggs to term but sometimes these things just happen.

The four eggs were similar to chickens eggs in shape but were as big as softballs. They were a beautiful black and light brown marble color with pink spots from where they were anchored to his intestinal lining. The pigment of his intestines merely affected the pigment of the attachment areas rather than being torn off parts of his lining since they were already naturally detached by the time the C-section came around to bring them out. With how huge they turned out to be, it was no wonder he would have trouble passing them if he tried a natural birth, especially with the lack of lubricant to push them out. 

Jack sighed, pleased with his body for doing the best it could and not giving out on him as he rested in the hospital bed. His hand laid on his soft abdomen feeling good about the world for sparing four out of eight of them but knew in the back of his mind about the dangers of counting chickens before they hatch. Their little ones still had a battle of their own to fight out for the next month or so before they would make their way out into the world. Only then would it be safe to give them names and see them more than just ‘egg children’.

His abdomen would have no scarring but his intestines required a bit of surgery to cut out the stretched parts and replace them with tissue the hospital grew to make up for it. Jack would be in the hospital for one week under close watch to make sure the tissue was not rejected before they would send him home. 

A nurse came into the room to check on Jack and the eggs, Jack watching her curiously as she used a tendril with a long latex sheath over it to turn the eggs in the incubator. She explained the process to him and why it was important to turn them, Jack asking her questions that the nurse happily answered when it came to egg tending. Apparently he should have taken an egg care class for expectant parents but Gabriel didn’t seem to mention that bit at all. Maybe he and the friends he was staying with just used a guide or something on how often to rotate the eggs?

When she finished up with the eggs, she tossed away the glove to put on two new ones when she came over to do a check up on Jack himself. Everything was within normal parameters as she tapped the results of each test she conducted into the holo screen projected in front of her before injecting something into the IV bag that was connected to his arm. He wasn’t allowed to eat or drink for forty-eight hours to allow his intestines to heal, the IV bag would give him the nutrition he needed as he laid back down to rest in bed. Jack was tired and easily complied with the request as he felt reassured the eggs were safe and sound even with him not being awake to tend to them.

\--

Jack’s dad wholeheartedly dedicated himself to ‘egg duty’ when Jack was finally released from the hospital. Apparently, John went and took the class Jack told him about when he came to the hospital and now one of them was certified to handle the egg children while Jack continued to rest up in his room. Jack’s legs were still in bad shape but he wanted to see Gabriel and talk to him about the options his doctor gave him before doing anything right away. 

Sleeping and moving around the house and outside in his wheelchair seemed to do more harm than good for his weakening legs but he often found the strain of walking with crutches to be exhausting him faster than usual. He didn’t want to spend the whole day in bed since his father insisted on tending to the eggs like a pro, they didn’t require much work at the moment so he took the time to enjoy what he could. Gabriel would be home soon since Jack got a text from him at the end of the week saying that he felt confident enough to make the jump to visit.

Jack couldn’t wait to see him again and have the bonus of not having to wait a whole month like before! He couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he hands one of the eggs for Gabriel to hold in his hands!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the final one in this story.
> 
> The pacing was faster because I wanted to cover the bits of Jack's pregnancy I personally wanted to write out, even if it meant there was little time skips. 
> 
> As usual, please leave your reviews and such! I really appreciate all the love you guys have for these two dweebs and their adventure in growing closer!


	9. The End

Gabriel was a sight for sore eyes when he popped into the room in the middle of the night, scaring the shit out of Jack when the loud thud of the hetantan lightly landing on the open space woke him up. 

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Gabe! What the hell?!” Jack placed a hand to his chest to calm his madly beating heart in his chest as he saw the familiar silhouette in the darkness of his room.

“I’m home, Jackie.” Gabriel chuckled happily as he set down the three huge tote bags he brought along with him, the good ratling in one of the bag while the others were considerably less noisy. “Sorry about the noise.”

Jack rolled his eyes at the apology before reaching over to flip on the lights in the room with the switch on the wall beside the bed. Gabriel was looking healthy and obviously in a good mood regardless of his sudden shadow step into the bedroom at three in the morning with no warning. The hetantan got down on all fours as he practically trotted over to his side of the bed and early climbed in, Jack huffing in annoyance as his pillow nest was tossed one by one off the bed so Gabriel could slide right in next to him. “Ass.” Jack grumbled but quickly pushed it aside as Gabriel laid down on his back, his spines sliting easily into the custom mattress for hetantans before lifting an arm so Jack could slip right under and snuggle up to him. 

“You love me, Jackie.” Gabriel teased playfully as he brought his clawed hand up to gently run it through his hair. “All silver now, huh? It’s not a bad look.” He spoke fondly of Jack’s hair finally being drained of all the blonde that initially attracted him to Jack in the first place.

“Yeah. It would be easy enough to dye it any color I want now. Was thinking about blue for next week. What you think?”

Gabriel let out an ugly snort at the joke Jack cracked, them both laughing quietly as to not wake up John on the other side of the house. He leaned down and nuzzled his muzzle into Jack’s hair before sharply pulling away from him. “Ew. What conditioner have you been using, Jackie? That smells terrible!”

Jack rolled his eyes at that. “Sorry. I had no idea I was emitting a strange odor from my hair follicles. I started genetic therapy this week and I guess the pills I’m taking are making me release that smell?”

Gabriel seemed surprised to hear that and smiled happily at the news. “That’s incredible, Jackie! I’m so proud and happy for you!” 

“It’s not going to save my legs though…” Jack admitted quietly, Gabriel’s large smile falling understandably to a frown before he rolled over onto his side and hugged Jack close to him. The warmth of his body and the unspoken understanding of his mate’s pain making Jack feel relieved and safe. He didn’t know why he was nervous about the whole thing since it was obvious that this was to be the outcome. Genetic therapy takes time and his legs wouldn’t last that long to feel the effects of the drugs; there was no way this information would come as a surprise to Gabriel but he still comforted Jack regardless. “The doctor says we’ll likely have to take the ki- the egg children to therapy once they hatch and start them on a similar therapy but I didn’t know how to bring up the whole possible ‘nanite’ issue...:”

“Jack, it’s okay to be worried about them but I want you to focus on yourself and your own needs before our eggs hatch along with always keeping both your physical and mental health in mind.” Gabriel spoke, voicing his opinion on the situation to try to keep the issues separate for now instead of Jack needlessly worrying about the egg children that may hatch and have issues versus the issues he needs taken care of sooner. “I want to know what you want, Jackie. What I can help you with, especially while I’m here now.”

“Right now? Sleep would be good.” 

“Sure.” Gabriel released some of his mass into the air, the nanites clinging to the ceiling, to tone down his bulk before reaching down and pulling the blankets up and over them. 

Jack snuggled in closer to Gabriel’s form, seeking the comfort of his mate as Gabriel shifted his limbs around in the giant bed to get comfortable. Once Gabriel was settled, Jack dragged in one of the few pillows still on the bed to rest his head against before Gabriel lowered his head so his chin practically rested above Jack’s head. The content purring began when Gabriel draped his arm over Jack’s waist, Gabriel’s many eyes slowly closing as he seemed properly exhausted himself from shadow stepping an incredible amount of distance to keep the whereabouts of his getaway vehicle safe.

They both slipped off rather smoothly to sleep with the other’s rhythmic breathing and familiar purrs easing their restless minds. It was always easier to sleep when Gabriel was with Jack; it felt like nothing could possibly hurt or threaten him when the both of them had each other’s backs. The morning would come and a new day would begin with both of them rising together to start the day off with a smile.

\--

Gabriel smiled warmly as he opened his eyes, spying the the incubator in the corner of the room behind Jack’s night stand as the sun came in brightly through the window. He felt proud at seeing the beautiful black and brown marble eggs lying safely on a blanket inside the clear glass window of the incubator, looking down at Jack’s sleeping form with much adoration for his endurance up until this point. Jack had went through so much hardship to make it to this point; losing half of their clutch over the course of his pregnancy without losing heart, going on an extremely restricted diet for several months, enduring their separation…

He leaned forward and nuzzled his muzzle affectionately into Jack’s snowy hair. Jack deserved a good and stable relationship from Gabriel after all the shit he had been going through to make this work between them. Gabriel needed to try to be around more often than not, especially since Jack’s legs were going to make life more difficult for him. If only he didn’t have the galactic police and bounty hunters on his heels regardless of the good he was doing as a vigilante. Gabriel could never fully atone for his crimes nor bring back the many he killed but even he deserved some good in his own life, he knew that much.

Using a tendril, Gabriel guided it to the incubator and released the hatch to open it. With the gentlest of touches, he began rotating each egg. His heart was pounding with love as he took the time to run the length of the tendril over the smooth surface of each of the eggs and showed his egg children how much he adored their presence in the world. The ones that would hatch in two months would be the strongest little fighters that he ever had a part in creating. Ones that would hopefully want to love their fathers and their grandfather to bits if they did their part in raising them correctly with kindness and understanding.

It would be rough for them, growing up in a hostile universe that wants one of their fathers dead but he vowed quietly to do right by them. He would tell them of his childhood on Hetantan, their half-siblings galaxies away and how to get into contact with them, and, when they are old enough to understand, tell them about the horizon incident and how he atones for his crimes. They deserved to know but only when they are ready to learn of all the details but not all at once and keeping the discussion age-appropriate to not mentally scar them.

Gabriel sighed and internally chastised himself for jumping the gun. Setting himself up for disappointment and heartache if he thought of the eggs as kids rather than the safer term, ‘egg children’. There was a real possibility none of the eggs would hatch when they reach the two month mark in the incubator. 

He felt his heart clench painfully at that thought, doing his best to not shift too much around and wake Jack. 

Jackie.

His sweet, dearest Jackie…

Gabriel couldn't imagine how badly he would be torn up at the entire clutch ending up dead after everything he went through. What this clutch symbolized between them and how he resolved to never leave Jack’s life regardless of the outcome, good or bad. The statistics were never good for Hetantan clutches and Jack’s body was still struggled against the effects of the instant-sobriety drug injected into him months before they consummated their affection for each other. It was very sobering reality that they would have to keep in mind.

They could always try again once Jack’s genetic therapy started to actively stop the degrading of his body. Gabriel would always love and support Jack in every way he possibly could. He would grieve by his side and follow the human rituals to bring him closure to the little lives that lost to the odds stacked against them. Maybe it would be kinder if they did not hatch at all rather than one of them making it out and struggling to live for a few weeks before slipping away even with their best efforts…

Gabriel looked at the incubator and his tendril that laid over the last egg he rotated. He wrapped it around the egg and carefully took it out while a second tendril went over to close the case securely. It was very warm in the room and he needed to have the peace of mind holding the egg would bring him. The thought of laying with the twins when they were egg children making him smile as he took the egg carefully from his tendril then retracting them both into his back.

The egg was larger than the twins’ eggs were, surprisingly enough but not by too much as he carefully turned it in his hands. The shell was firmer than he originally feared it would be, human genetics not softening the protective layer since humans were not born by breaking through hard shells. Their births were soft, very loud and painful for the mother, but soft; the parent taking the burden of the fight for life for their darling offspring. It was both scary and reassuring that the shell was hard…

Would the little one be able to get out on its own?

“Mmmn…? What are you… oh…” Jack mumbled sleepily as he woke up, seeing Gabriel holding one of the eggs to his chest and softly purring. He seemed a bit surprised as he slowly sat up with squinted eyes and turned to look over at the incubator.

“I just took one out after turning the rest of them. Did I wake you?” Gabriel whispered to Jack, knowing that he got kind of grouchy in the morning if a loud noise woke him up before his alarm. Gabriel had taken a many pillows to the back of his head learning how to navigate the room but it was more from Jack’s reflex from living with siblings than animosity aimed at Gabriel for stubbing his toe in the darkness when he needed to go pee.

Once Jack felt satisfied with his gaze at the light next to the lock being green for ‘secured’ he turned back towards Gabriel and flopped back down on the bed with an exhausted sigh. Gabriel chuckled softly in amusement and brought out a tendril to rub his partner’s back through the T-shirt he wore to bed, trying to ease him back to sleep. 

“Kind of, I guess…?” He drowsily responded as he pulled the blanket up so it was covering his shoulder. “Why did you take one of the eggs out?” Jack added with a casual yawn as he closed his eyes.

“Just wanted to see for myself that this was real, you know.” Gabriel explained quietly to Jack as he looked down at the egg wedged snugly between his arm and chest to keep it warm. “Helps my hormones even out as well to have some egg snuggling time too.” He added with a bashful chuckle.

Jack smiled at that even though Gabriel thought he drifted off. “Alright, just for a few minutes or I’ll be too nervous to fall back asleep, okay?”

“No problem with that, Jackie. I’m sure you’re jealous anyways.” Gabriel teased playfully, earning him a weak push by Jack’s knee against his thigh to punish him for that remark. “A man after my own heart.” He swooned, smiling when he noticed Jack’s lip curl upwards from that so easily.

“You’re a sap and a half, Gabe.”

“Ouch.” Gabriel chuckled in mock offense. “I’ve thoroughly revealed to not be the badass mass murder everyone expects me to be? How will I ever recover from the offense?”

“I’ll throw a pillow at you if you insist on keeping me up, Gabe.” Jack jokingly warned, still very relaxed and comfortable under the sheets. He wasn't going to crawl out from there unless Gabriel really pushed his buttons.

“Oh come on, Jackie. When I look at you, it’s like I get the uncontrollable urge to bother you with my affection.” Gabriel responded in mock hurt.

“People do that when they see cute house pets, Gabe. I’m not a cat.”

Gabriel paused for a minute before reaching and carefully pulling on a few locks on Jack’s head to make them stand up, effectively getting Jack to chuckle and bat at his hand.

“Stop. I don't need a bad cow lick cause you want to shape my hair to make damn cat ears, You Menace.” 

Gabriel snickered at Jack’s cute response and retracted his hand before producing three tendrils, carefully passing the egg up to two of them so they could secure it. The third was at the incubator and waiting for the two carefully carrying the delicate package back to its warm nest. It unlocked the incubator and waited for the lid to slide back before it started to feel around for the gap the egg belonged. The two tendrils then used the third to help guide the egg back onto the blanket with the others before they retracted and closed the lid carefully, not pulling back into Gabriel's body until the light blinked back on that the lid was securely locked into place. Once the light switches flipped, Gabriel retracted his tendrils and snuggled up with Jack under the covers. 

“Egg is back and safe with the others.” Gabriel remarked before Jack pushed himself up and turned to see for himself that the proper light was showing then flopping back down.

“Now can we sleep?” He yawned, smiling when Gabriel draped one arm over Jack’s waist and leaned in to kiss him.

“Yep. Night, Jackie.”

“Night, Gabe.” 

\--

Gabriel was more of a constant around the house in the final months leading up to the hatching day of the four eggs they had. He still had to port in and out to go do stuff in far lying galaxies to keep bounty hunters and the police guessing on where he was. A healthy amount of paranoia that Jack understood since even he got antsy when Gabe was around for too many days in a row.

Jack and his father spent a lot of time asking Gabriel questions about hetantans and his experiences with egg hatching. Gabriel was always willing to fill them both in with what he knew or helped them find websites on the net to help fill in their collective knowledge on the subject.

They were all nervous as the months turned to weeks and weeks turned to days. All of them making passing glances into the incubator and walking over to look when one of them lingered a bit longer than usual. No activity of note from the eggs as John continued to dutifully rotate the eggs on a stricter schedule than before likely to help deal with his anxiety over his potential grandchildren. 

Jack was a bit optimistic with the amputation of his legs and how quickly he recovered and responded to physical therapy with his prosthetics. Having Gabriel around while he was recovering at home made for some good memories, especially when he donned a ‘sexy nurse’ outfit on Jack’s first day home from the hospital. Jack was a wheezing mess and his father just turned around and walked back out of their room after he wanted to see ‘what Jack was laughing about’. Gabriel broke down crying with Jack. Jack’s father was probably mentally scarred by that whole thing.

It did set the standard for how home life was with Gabriel as he became more and more involved in the house. Jack watched approvingly as Gabriel tried to connect with his father, watching as his old man made small talk with Jack’s partner while he carefully rotated the eggs. Gabriel understood that his father was gradually getting used to being around such an imposing alien, especially when Gabriel sat down to converse when it came time to rotate the eggs during the day. Jack was just happy that his dad was accepting the olive branch Gabriel offered to him and didn't talk behind his back to him when they tended to the chicken coop every morning where Gabriel could not follow them.

The three of them were eating lunch together and Gabriel was being exposed to the wonders of a tuna fish sandwich before the incubator made a loud beep in the corner of the room where they left it. They turned their heads to the incubator and listened as the AI activated to inform them of the status of the incubator like it was scheduled to around this hour.

‘Movement detected in incubation chamber. Core temperature reading-’

The AI’s voice continued to read off the statics as the three of them burst up from their seats and rushed over to the incubator, John carefully moving the stand holding the incubator away from the wall so they could all see what this ‘movement’ observation was. Jack was trembling in excitement as he grabbed Gabriel’s hand and looked at his partner’s beaming expression being returned to him. Gabriel and Jack leaned over as Jack’s father turned on the internal light switch to illuminate the incubation chamber with a soft light to let them see better inside.

There was indeed movement from two of the eggs. They rocked subtly every few minutes, alerting them to the life that was inside and trying to make its way out into the world. Jack pushed himself closer against Gabriel’s body to feel some form of security in this moment and felt his partner softly purr as he rested his chin on Jack’s shoulder. The other two were probably liked sleeping in and would start moving later, that was what Jack told himself instead of freaking out about the lack of moment.

“How long will it take them to break from their shells?” Jack whispered anxiously to Gabriel, squeezing his hand lightly.

“Dunno. Can take a while.” Gabriel murmured to his partner. “We can stand here for a little longer but the AI will tell us when one of the shells breaks. Might help pass the time if we eat and give the egg children their privacy.”

Jack lightly elbowed Gabriel in the side with a smirk on his lips. “You just want to go back to eating that sandwich.”

Gabriel gave Jack a toothy grin at that. “I’ll gladly eat yours as well if you’re not careful, Jackie.”

“That’s a dangerous game you’re playing, Gabe. I’ll fight you and you know it.”

Gabriel chuckled and nuzzled the side of his face against Jack’s with Jack reciprocating the gesture happily with a smile. They were a pair of dweebs but now was a good time as any to have light-hearted moments between them. A new memory was being made here and now and Jack wanted it to badly be a happy one.

“He’s got a point though.” John spoke up as he adjusted his glasses on his face. “Gonna take a bit for the little ones to come out so we might as well be fed and ready for action in case we need to hustle to the hospital.” 

Jack nodded his head in agreement with his father’s assessment. “Alright. Let’s get our fill and give the eggs the space they need.” He pulled away from Gabriel but continued to hold the hetantan's hand as they made their way back to the table, John following after he made sure the incubator and the stand was secure.

Based on Jack and John’s testing with the incubator with chicken eggs prior to placing the egg children into the chamber, the AI would give them updates every fifteen minutes when movement is first detected unless one of the shells were breached; in that case, it would immediately alert them of the development and start recording statistics on the chick, or in this case, the offspring. Jack had no reason to think the machine would fail them after they hatched multiple clutches like Gabriel advised them and ate his sandwich, swatting at Gabriel's hand when he tried to go after the other half on Jack’s plate. Gabriel was doing a good job of distracting Jack from his anxiety and even let Gabriel feed him a prosilien chip with a tendril until his dad jokingly chastised them both for having bad table manners.

It was after they cleaned up from lunch that the first fifteen minute update came. It was a repeat of the earlier ‘movement’ alert and Gabriel just sat on the couch in the living room, not too far from the incubator, to watch Jack and John peek through the observation glass.

“The little eggs are going to need longer than thirty minutes to come out of their shells, Guys.” Gabriel empathetically spoke as he pulled up his legs to his chest on the couch and rested his chin on them, feeling very comfortable on the human furniture by tucking himself in like this. 

Jack turned to look back at Gabriel with a small frown on his lips. “I know but I don’t want to miss a thing, Gabe!”

“The AI will take video and pictures of the moment from multiple angles, Jackie. It takes a normal hetantan five hours to breach its shell and that’s assuming our egg children have the hetantan ability to chip away at the inner shell.”

“Wait. Are you telling me that they can die in their shells cause they can’t get out?” 

Gabriel tensed up at that and turned around on the couch to face Jack and John’s horrified expressions. “It’s… It’s always a potential risk considering humans aren’t egg borne species.” He spoke carefully and with consideration of both John and Jack’s feelings. “We can certainly help them out in the process if the egg children create a fracture zone that you can use your human nails to peel back. Help take some of the outermost layers of the shell off, you know.”

“But, that requires them getting through ninety percent of the shell by themselves.” John grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the incubation chamber through the observation glass.

“Yeah, well, we don’t have the proper visualization tools to take the shell off entirely by ourselves without risk of hurting the egg child in the process. Hense why I suggest we wait for the fracture points to show in the egg.”

“So, you suggest we let the egg children die in their shells?” Jack asked in frustration as he held his head in his hands and began pacing around the dining table to vent off his anxiety.

“Jackie, it’s only been half an hour since they started moving in their shells.” Gabriel spoke reassuringly to his partner to try to calm his fears. “We’ll take the egg children to the hospital in three hours if you are that concerned they will not be able to manage their own hatching on their own.”

“‘Three hours’?! They could asphyxiate in their shells by then, Gabe!” 

John looked over at Jack at that. “Son, you know it can take up to twenty-four hours for a chick to fully hatch out of its shell. I think a three hour wait for signs of a breach is fair.” He added, empathetic to Jack’s plight since it was his own as well.

Jack heavily sighed as he came to a halt on his fourth lap around the table and ruffled his hair in frustration. “I just- I don’t want them to die if there’s something we can do! These are my kids, Dad!” He emphasized as he let his hands drop back to his sides in defeat.

John and Gabriel frown at that, the mood heavy in the connected rooms as the once casual approach to the hatch took on a more morbid turn. No one liked the idea of failing to give the egg children a fighting chance at life but also understood that the frailty of the egg children in their protective shell was a huge risk if they tried to intervene on their behalf. At least no one was spouting nonsense about ‘survival of the fittest’ and saying the eggs should totally be left without assistance…

Reluctantly, Jack and John went back over to the living room to sit and watch documentaries on different alien species on the holoscreen. Jack resting his head against Gabriel’s bicep while Gabriel kept an arm around Jack’s waist to make him feel secure. He appreciated his partner’s patience with him more than ever in this trying time for him.

Jack wanted the little ones to survive this so badly after all the others he lost along the way. He wanted some happiness to come from that one night between him and Gabriel that would be concrete between them. Yes, he understood they might not make it but he wanted them to make it through. Gabriel was going to be a devoted partner to him no matter what and Jack believed that in his heart though he could just imagine the joy that would come from the egg children being able to survive against the odds like he did...

\--

It would be five minutes before the third hour approached that the AI delivered the new that one of the egg children had breached their shell. Gabriel was grinning from ear-to-ear as he watched Jack bolt upward with his blanket with John on his heels, staying put on the couch but turning his body to face the awestruck humans around the incubator. He didn’t want to get in their way of viewing the little ones, assuming the breach was made on the surface of the egg where they could visually see it. 

“See anything, Jack?” John asked anxiously as he craned his head to try to see if he could spot the breech through the viewing glass.

“I-I don’t think I can, Dad.” Jack stuttered, his excitement visible as he carefully tried to step around the incubator to get a new viewing angle. He then paused, finally noticing a certain someone missing from the viewing party and looked back at the couch to see Gabriel watching them with his chin resting in his palms with a look of pure adoration on his face. “... You’re making fun of us, aren’t you?”

“Huh?” Gabriel asked as he gave Jack a perplexed look. 

“You’re just sitting there instead of standing over here with us!”

“How does that imply that I’m making fun of you two? I’m just trying to stay out of the way but also being part of the moment.” Gabriel frowned at his partner, looking rather hurt by the accusation.

Jack thought about it for a moment before looking a bit guilty as he brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly. “Ah…”

“Don’t take it as a sign that I’m not interested, Jackie. I love you and the little ones too much to truly be distant.” Gabriel explained sincerely to his partner with an understanding smile. 

Jack seemed to relax at his partner’s reassurance before looking back down at the incubator. His father was tapping on the incubator’s keyboard, bringing up a holo monitor that showed an almost-xray-ish video of one of the eggs being breached in the bottom half corner. It explained why neither of them could visually see the breach nor the sight of the little one inside.

“Anyways… I think we should give the eggs another hour or so to see if another one breaches before going to the hospital if one was able to break through.” Jack spoke, glancing from his father to Gabriel to see if they had any other opinions on the matter.

“That sounds like a fair idea.” John agreed as he looked back at his son.

“Same here. I want to believe they can make it through as well.” Gabriel added.

Jack seemed reassured by their mutual agreement with his plan and gently patted the incubator with a loving smile on his face. He kept quiet out of not wanting to jinx their luck so far and walked back over to the couch to resume his place snuggled up by Gabriel warmth while his father turned off the holo projector.

\--

On the sixth hour, two little ones had breached their shells while a third continued to wiggle inside of the egg. Utilizing gloves, Jack and John carefully assisted with chiping away at the oldest breacher’s shell inside the incubator.

Jack could feel his heart pounding in his chest and tears rolling down his cheek when he saw traces of the soft body inside the shell under the light of the room for the first time. Gabriel had his arms wrapped around Jack’s waist and his chin resting on his partner’s body while John was switching between phone to snap pictures of the moment.

“What are you seeing, Jackie?” Gabriel murmured softly to his lover. “Tell us.”

Jack leaned back against the warm body holding him so gently. “Dark brown with little beige spots, I think.” He choked up lightly, unable to believe that this miracle was really occur to a person like himself. Gabriel nuzzled the side of his face against Jack’s cheek to make the man’s heart flare brightly in his chest.

“Beautiful. It’s like I’m being spoiled by the gods for all the shit they put me through.” Gabriel chuckled adoringly, especially when Jack nuzzled his cheek up against Gabriel's own to reciprocate the hetantan way of showing affection.

Jack set the egg carefully back down on the blanket and then back up to carefully close the viewing glass, the light flipping to show that it was secure before Jack turned around to hug his partner. “It’s happening, Gabe! They’re-! The egg children are doing the thing!” He quickly changed his response to not jinx their luck. 

Gabriel squeezed him tightly in his arms, just as blissfully happy as his mate before raising him up in the air to kiss him on the lips. Jack was still crying from happiness as he wrapped his arms around Gabriel's neck to deepen the kiss as more camera snapping noises went off in the background.

Jack couldn't wait to send the pictures to his sisters, they came around to the idea of Jack having kids with an alien over the past few months with their father constantly engaging with them about the egg children. One of them was even pondering the idea of saving up to come visit them but didn't seal down any dates out of fear of jinxing the whole process - it seemed to be a Morrison family thing to cross their fingers and sit on their mouths rather than tempt fate. 

It felt so good to kiss Gabriel at this time and just have him here by his side after months of just short visits. Jack had a ring hidden in the bedroom that he planned on presenting to Gabriel once he got the courage to do so even though they would never be able to make it ‘official’. He wanted to give Gabriel something to express his love and gratitude to the hetantan, even if his race did not exchange rings like humans did.

They broke open a nice bottle of wine for dinner that night an hour later. John ordered in some amazing roast beast for them and made the sides of mashed potato and green beans himself. It was a grand feast for the trio as they silently clinged their wine glasses together to celebrate without directly saying anything but smiling at one another. John and Jack were going to head out to the hospital right after dinner with the incubator to have the little ones cared for by professionals while Gabriel would port back to his own ship while the house was empty. 

With the leftovers packed up into tupperware containers, half going to Gabe in a plastic bag and the rest in the fridge, Jack walked with Gabriel back to their room as John loaded the incubator into the car. Gabriel smiled happily at his partner once they were in the privacy of their room and leaned down to kiss Jack once more on the lips.

“Text me any news, alright? It’s going to be a boring night just sitting out in space.” 

Jack chuckled softly at that as he pointed down to the bag containing the tupperware boxes. “Don't eat all of it at once out of boredom, alright? Watch a few movies that you don't plan on watching with me to pass the time or sleep.” He suggested casually.

Gabriel rolled his eyes in response. “What’s the fun of watching stuff without Jack around to keep me company?”

Jack lightly punched Gabriel’s shoulder with a grin that spread easily to Gabriel. “Quit whining, You Big Baby. I gotta get going anyways, but, yeah, I’ll stay in touch, alright?”

“Good. I’ll see you when I see you.” Gabriel winked playfully before shadow stepping out of Jack’s sight and making Jack roll his eyes at that.

Eh. Oh well. Time to get going.

Jack turned and left their room, moving quickly to pull on his shoes and coat before heading out to the car after closing the door to the garage behind him.

\--

They arrived at the hospital and were quickly parted with the incubator by the understanding staff after getting them checked in. They would be brought to the neonatal care ward and tended to by the experts here. Gabriel reassured him that they would be no wiser to the egg children having nanites unless Jack said something about it to make the doctors going looking for the signs so he passed them off without much hesitation. He needed to be confident and keep his wits about himself as he sat down in the waiting area beside his father.

The small, handheld holo projector the hospital staff gave him lit up after thirty minutes of waiting, his father eagerly watching as Jack tapped on the button that projected a holo monitor screen that was divided into four quadrants, one for each child. All the monitors were blacked out except for the one that said ‘neo2’ that showed a grainy live feed of a lumpy little hetantan baby in its own hospital incubator. The baby was laying on its back in a trough so it wouldn't be able to roll over with a teeny oxygen mask over its mouth. 

It was so damn cute and breathing too!

Jack’s father had his phone out and snapping pictures as Jack tried to not tear up at the sight of his kid- was he allowed to safely call it his ‘kid’ now? He quickly reached into his pocket to dig out his own phone, wordlessly passing the projector to his father so his hands were free to text Gabriel. Jack made sure to snap his own picture of the grainy feed before attaching it to his text to Gabriel's current burner phone.

Jack: Arrived at the hospital safely. Someone wants to say ‘hi’ to his Papa! 

Jack grinned at that last cheesy sentence and sent the text on its way to Gabriel. He was pretty sure Gabe was bored to Hell and back on Death Blossom and stuffing his face with the leftovers of their dinner like he wasn't suppose to.

He didn't even have to wait a minute for his phone to vibrate in his hand.

Gabe: That’s phone background material, Jackie. I’m replacing you, sorry.

Jack found himself suppressing a laugh with his hand to keep himself from embarrassing himself in the hospital waiting room. Fucking figures Gabriel had a picture of Jack as his background, what a damn pair of saps they were. Jack still had that picture of them at their first fancy dinner Gabriel invited him out to when he masqueraded as a human. He needed to put Gabe’s natural hetantan form as his background sometime but he couldn't find the strength to change the picture of them smiling at the waiter at the resort. Gabe was so damn handsome regardless if he was hetantan or not and his human form would probably make everyone drop their panties for him on sight…

… Yes, he needs to ring Gabe sooner than later but now was not the time to be jealous of imaginary suitors that his partner does not have.

Jack: They’re so tiny, Gabe. How are we supposed to protect something the size of a pastry bun?

Gabe: ‘The best we can’? Also, stop. That comparison is too adorable.

Jack snickered at that confession and continued to type away on his phone.

Jack: What? Is it because I’ve seen chocolate bars bigger than our kid?

Gabe: Pllllleaaaasse I’m dying here, Jackie!!

Oh, this was much too fun to stop now. Gabriel was asking for a teasing cruise and not the bedroom-kind either.

Jack: They’re so small I bet your thumb is bigger than they are.

Gabe: I want a divorce.

Jack: You’re not getting one, Loser. We ain’t even married.

Gabe: This kind of abuse was not what I signed up for.

Jack: I carried those eggs inside of me for MONTHS, Gabriel. I’ll tease you with cute all I like.

Gabe: I’m gonna text John and tell him what a horrible son you are. 

Jack paused before looking over at his father next to him, the old man cupping one side of his cheek and sighed blissfully as he looked at his cute grandkid in the holo monitor in front of himself. He snapped a quick picture of the scene before attaching it to the text and started entering his caption.

Jack: Might have to take a raincheck on that one, Gabe.

He sent the text off with a lopsided smirk before John’s surprised gasp drew Jack quickly back to the scene.

“What? What Happened?!” Jack asked eagerly as he leaned over to look at the live feed to see that another quadrant went live with the one already running. 

John quickly leaned over to let Jack look at the feed with a better viewing angle and felt his heart sink a bit at the sight. The little one, marked as ‘neo4’ showed no image but text that said ‘Critical Condition’. The hospital reception staff did warn him that they would be unable to provide context for any conditional changes so he was going to have to wait for a nurse from the ward to come down as he stared at the plain white words. John placed a hand on Jack’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, giving Jack some needed comfort that he desperately needed.

He knew it was bound to happen due to his prior deteriorating condition but it was still a lot to swallow. Jack put his egg children’s lives on the line by rushing a night of passion with Gabriel but that was all in hindsight and Jack knew he had a very good reason that night for allowing Gabriel to impregnate him. That might have been their only night to acknowledge their love for each other if the plan to capture him actually succeeded on the police’s side…

Jack wanted to believe that bringing them into the hospital would give their four egg children a fighting chance. That they would flourish after taking in a breath of air from their home and ‘seeing’ Gabriel that they will gain the strength that they need to want to fight through to live. Even if their bodies were unable to handle all the stress placed on them, Jack would feel at peace knowing that the egg children did get to meet them, in a manner of speaking. They had a nice little tree they planned on burying the urns near to fall in line with the hetantan proverb that the egg children unhatched in the sands on Gabriel’s planet return their souls to the sea where all hetantan will eventually join them. He felt that it was similar to how humans were buried and wanted the remains of their children to blossom life in line with that since there was no ocean here. Gabriel certainly did not want to bury any of them back on his planet but that was more because he felt that this was their home now.

Jack: One of the egg children is listed in critical condition. No details yet.

Gabriel responded back in a prompt manner.

Gabe: I really wish there was more I could do to help you through this, Jackie…

Jack: You are. I need someone to talk to other than my father or we’ll both be crying in the waiting room.

Gabe: Wanna talk about something else to get your mind off the egg children for a bit?

Jack: That’s gonna be hard.

Jack was nudged out of his daze as he waited for Gabriel's reply by his father and looked in the direction he was pointing as a nurse in appropriately baby-themed scrubs approached them with a tablet in hand. John turned off the holo projector and the both of them have the nurse their undivided attention as she came to a stop in front of them where they sat.

“Mr. John JR Morrison?” The woman asked as she regarded the both of them.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Jack spoke up as he raised his hand sheepishly off the armrest of the chair before placing it back down. “This is my father, he’s here with me too.” He clarified to the nurse and felt relieved as she nodded her head in understanding, not kicking him out immediately.

“Right. Please follow me, Gentlemen.” She smiled warmly, waiting for Jack and John to rise before leading them to a private examination room on the first floor. 

It was like your typical exam room with an examination table/chair-thing, a small desk for the doctor, a sink and two chairs for any guests the patient brought with them that had to be in the room. Jack and John took a seat in the guest chairs while the senior nurse practitioner, from what Jack read from her ID badge, sat on the adjustable padded stool at the small desk. She seemed to be level headed as she regarded Jack and John with an empathetic look, probably going to clarify what the live feed screen meant along with any other bad news Jack anticipated in his head.

“Well, Sirs, I believe you brought in four hetantan egg children in the process of hatching earlier, correct?” 

“Yeah. That’d be us.” John confirmed confidently as he took Jack’s hand and held it in his own, his thumb stroking reassuringly over the skin soothingly in beginning of this likely stressful conversation.

“I just wanted to be sure.” The nurse explained kindly before setting her tablet on the desk and facing them with her hands on her knees to look as professional as possible. “I’m sure you’re aware that you have a little hetantan that is doing well from what I saw of you watching the live feed. That little one is a bit underweight but thankfully they was eager for their first bottle feeding!” She remarked happily with a sincere smile. 

Jack felt relieved at hearing that bit before his stomach twisted anxiously at the thought that she was delivering the good news first before moving onto the harder part.

“As for the other three.”

Jack squeezed his father’s hand tightly as he felt like he was about to jump off the edge of a cliff into the unknown and possibly without a parachute.

“The doctors tried to resuscitate the egg child that was not proactively moving in its shell at the time the incubator was opened but they were unable to do anything for them. Speculation was that the egg child died fully formed in the egg but there were no signs that rough handling of the egg might have caused its death, the doctors wanted to reassure you of that.” She spoke empathetically to Jack as tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.

“And the other two..?” He asked with a crack in his voice, his father patting his hand to console him as he too teared up at the news.

“They’re both in critical condition at the moment, one is having trouble breathing properly while the other is having kidney issues that the doctors are trying to correct. They are very delicate operations since hetantan neonates are still developing their organs after they hatch compared to neonates of other space-faring races since they usually go straight into the sea after birth on their home planet. The fact that they won't have the weightlessness of the ocean to support their soft bodies makes it harder on their bodies to develop unless they are a genetically mixed neonate like yours are, Sirs.”

Jack looked up at her as he used his free hand to rub at his face. “You can tell they’re mixed?”

“Yes, the little one who practically devoured the nipple of the bottle has the smoothest little fingers I felt on a hetantan baby. No talons or anything.” She practically cooed sweetly about Jack and Gabe’s child. “Also the colors are so pretty. I’ve never seen pale freckles on a hetantan before!”

Jack was nipping down hard on his lower lip to not smile even though his face was burning from how happy her compliments made him. Someone thought his kid was genuinely adorable and he could barely contain his glee? He needed to remind himself to tell Gabriel about this nice nurse gushing about their kid cause it was way too cute not to.

From there they started talking back and forth about hetantan babies and the nurse’s personal experience with them in the neonatal ward. Jack was stunned to learn about how much how hungry the little ones usual were, John teasing Jack by implying that ‘he was the same way as a baby too’ and receiving a glare from his son in return. It was a lot lighter tone of conversation as the nurse would occasionally check her tablet before putting it back down while laughing at a bad joke John made.

“So, anyways, what preparations have you been making at home for the kids arrival?” She asked curiously with a warm smile on his lips.

John took this one since Jack spent most of the time in physical therapy or bed rest one way or another for the past few months with one surgery after the other. “Been fixing the designated playroom lately. Took down the wall between two back to back closets to make a space for them to play but I’m finally finished with sanding down the walls to start painting. Was think of an ocean theme for the room to let them connect with their other father’s side.” He proudly explained with his chest pushed out and a confident nod of his head. Jack’s father really came a long way in the past few months from a jaded, retired stockbroker to a grandfather on a mission to give a warm welcome for his grandkids.

The nurse seemed ecstatic at that as she clapped her hands together in delight. “That’s so sweet! Has their hetantan parent been assisting with the process? I noticed that they were absent.”

Jack nodded his head at that. “They wanted to be here but work called.” He remarked in annoyance to sell the excuse that Gabriel was a poor on-call worker and that Jack was his disappointed mate or something. 

She seemed to buy it as she gave him a sympathetic look. “That’s really unfortunate, Sir, but at least your father is here for support, right? Most folks don't even get that around here...” The nurse remarked sadly.

Right… Other than the area around the hospital and the more ‘rural’ areas where Jack lived, the colony was rather poor and crime-ridden. Still, it was one of the few ‘safeish’ places he could start a family with Gabriel and not have to worry too much about being recognized. Having only one neighbor within a mile of his home and a lot of open space for grass and trees made it easier to stay away from the problematic neighborhoods that the colony got a bad rep from. The kids would have to be home schooled though and they might have to leave for another place to live at the drop of a hat if anyone caught wind of their secret. He wanted the kids to have friends too so moving to a nicer place would be ideal within the next five years maximum.

“It’s good to have a supportive family. I’m really blessed in this case.” Jack genuinely smiled as he spoke sincerely from his heart, squeezing his father’s hand for emphasis.

John didn't say anything but seemed to smile sheepishly at the compliment. Jack hoped he got the message that he forgave his distantish behavior when he grew up under his house cause his father was genuinely devoted to patching up with him and this was proof of how far he came. He never thought he would see the day where his father relaxed and stopped caring about his ‘reputation’ enough to hold Jack’s hand for so long outside of a funeral…

The nurse smiled sweetly at that, understanding how happy Jack was in this moment and pleased to hear it as she looked over at John. “I’m happy for you both and the other father! You’re going to be such a good family!” She grinned happily before scooping up her tablet from the tablet and getting up. “And speaking of ‘family’, you want to meet baby number one? The doctor gave the go-ahead for a short meeting while we were talking.” 

Jack and John smiled in excitement at that as they rose to their feet, their hands separating but their eagerness to continue to healing their bond present when Jack draped an arm casually over his old man’s shoulder when they got out into the hallway. 

\--

Jack: Sorry for not responding to your texts, a nurse wanted to talk to us in private about the egg children’s conditions. We lost one and the other two are fighting for their lives as we speak.

Gabe: it’s fine, Jackie. I figured something like that happened anyways with the nurse whisking you away. I have a little hob’lun, a ‘sea shrine’, set up in the entertainment room on my ship and I have been adding little shells from Hetantan’s beaches to it to ‘say a prayer’, as you say, for the little ones struggling to survive. 

Jack: A ‘sea shrine’? Is it similar to prayer table?

Gabe: Yeah, but the items placed on it are not little tokens for the dead to pass on safely at a wake. It’s the direct opposite, and the shells are something hetantan pass down to their eldest born so they too may use Hetantan’s ocean to strengthen the spirits of the little ones born away from its warm beaches.

Jack: You didn't give them to your twins before Horizon happened…?

Gabe: Yeah. I went to Hetantan after you had the surgery to get the egg children removed from your body. I picked up the shells and made several shrine visits I could in a day to pray for you and the egg children before leaving. I didn't want to get caught since a huge, all black hetantan really stands out surrounded by ‘normal-sized’, dark brown hetantan.

Jack frowned at this heartbreaking chain of back and forths between him and Gabriel while John held the little one, decked head-to-toe in the provided robe, gloves, shoe covers, and face mask provided by the staff. He stood outside of the viewing room after rotating with John to handle the little hetantan, wanting to tell Gabriel about the news but got sidelined by how Gabriel was coping with the news Jack gave him. He never knew that Gabriel went back to his home planet much less that his mate did a small pilgrimage on their behalf. 

Jack: I just got out of the nursery and John is holding the little one right now. The nurses want to know names and ‘naturalized names’ and we never talked about the whole thing out of paranoia before…

Gabe: They don't need a classical hetantan name, Jackie. If and when they go on the pilgrimage back to Hetantan then they’ll be given their natural name. I was born there and I didn't get my naturalized name until I was twenty, so, there’s no rush there.

Jack: Okay. But what human names do you like? Genitalia doesn't develop for another three weeks for hetantan babies right? Should we go with androgynous name?

Gabe: Yeah, genitalia is the last thing developed, in general. Also, heh, ‘human names’. Gabriel certainly isn't Earth-originated at all but that’s something I’ll tease you about later. ;)

Jack: Jackass. Semantics isn't what I need right now!

Gabe: I like ‘Adrian’. That’s gender-neutral, right?

Jack: Yeah. Never thought about it like that… Is that how you want it spelled on the birth certificate?

Gabe: Jackie, this child isn't just mine, you know. :)

Jack: Yeah, but I want to avoid any petty arguments we could have in the future about this.

Gabe: ‘Adryan’ would be nice. ‘Adry’ would be a female nickname and ‘Ryan’ can be the male nickname until they decide if they want to make their own variation that they enjoy! Also, ‘Adry’ is similar to a hetantan word meaning ‘reflection of the water’s surface’! 

Gabe: Fun tidbit! :)

Jack felt himself smile at that as he leaned his shoulder against the viewing glass, chuckling into his hand to try to muffle his amusement. Gabriel’s love was on full display with these little showings of his culture when he otherwise kept numb about it. He was so secure in himself and what he found important that he seemed to not feel pressed to push a ‘traditional’ hetantan agenda onto their children though he did go out of his way to do so on his own free time without saying anything. It was… it was really thoughtful.

Jack: I’ll tell the staff when John comes out of the room with our nurse.

Gabe: How is your nurse, by the way? Treating you with indifference?

Jack: No… Should they be?

Gabe: Not at all! Be sure to get her name from the front desk, along with any of the surgeons who are helping our little ones in ER, and we’ll write them personal letters of gratitude. Or I will, since it’s kind of a hetantan thing.

Jack smiled before watching as John came over to the viewing window with the little one they will call ‘Adryan’ in his hands wrapped in a hand towel from how small they were. He understood that his father wanted a photo of them and pulled up his camera app to snap a picture of John in all of his sterile gear while holding Adryan. Jack gave his father a thumbs up once the picture was taken, and the older Morrison moved back to where the nurse was, in her own sterile gear. With much haste, Jack attached the picture file to the next text message he was going to send off to Gabriel.

Jack: Here’s grandpa and grandchild, Gabe!

Gabe: Aww! John does that thing with his brow when he smiles as well! 

Jack rolled his eyes at that as he went back to leaning against the glass with his shoulder to continue texting Gabriel.

Jack: I have no idea what you are talking about. >:(

Gabe: Ah! He uses the emoticon at long last! :D

Gabe: Also, don’t worry about it. John looks very happy holding little Adryan. Adryan looks like a bean in his gloved hand.

Jack: Beans are waaay smaller than Adryan, Gabe. They’re at least big enough to fill his palm while curled up, You Sap.

Gabe: It’s an expression, Jackie. Lighten up. :) 

Gabe: Also, did he take a picture of you holding Adryan?

Jack: Oh yeah, he’ll send some to my phone then I’ll send them to you when he comes out of the room.

Gabe: Look forward to it, Jackie.

Jack grinned as he put his phone back into his pocket and was completely relaxed as he watched his father lay the baby back into its incubator. Although the other two little ones were fighting for their lives in the ER he still felt a lot better than he did when they arrived at the hospital. They were in the best hands possible and Jack felt confident that he could go home with his father without worry of the outcome being any worse than it would been if they did the hatching process completely at home. Jack could come to turns with whatever happens with no lingering regrets at all

\--

In the end, Jack ended up coming home with just two of the little ones, Adryan and Lynn after they spent two days in the hospital.

Gabriel shadow stepped immediately into the bedroom after Jack texted him that they came home with the little ones. John and Jack were sitting on the bed before him with the incubator off to the side against the wall. In their arms was two blankets holding the sleeping children with their guardians smiling in welcome to Gabriel’s arrival.

Jack rose off the bed first as Gabriel quickly dropped his bags and scrambled over to Jack, careful of how close he got his chest to his lover’s hands as he held one of their children safely in them, to kiss him. A gleeful smile spread over Jack’s lips from the affection, making them both pull away chuckling in a heartfelt manner before Jack noticed tears rolling down from Gabriel’s many eyes. He brought up the sleeve of his shirt to brush them away the best he could, them both realizing how ridiculous it looked before Gabriel excused himself a moment to get a hand towel from the linen closet in the hallway.

“I assume you’re happy to see them at long last, Gabe?” Jack smiled as Gabriel came back into the room, dabbing at the corners of each of his eyes with the towel.

“Shush, You.” Gabriel’s voice cracked as he moved back over to Jack and trade his towel for the blanket and the little bean napping away under the fluffy warmth. He bit down hard on his lower lip as his entire form seemed to tremble from how overwhelmed he seemed by physically holding one of his children he made with Jack. “Do I… Do I really get to have this second chance? I’m not dreaming again, right?” Gabriel practically pleaded as he looked at Jack with tears rolling down his face again, holding Adryan so delicately in his palms as he brought them protectively to his chest.

Jack felt himself choke on his breath as he heard such desperate words from his partner. Gabriel had dreamed of this situation many times before? How hard must it have been to experience the kind of crushing disappointment he must have felt when he woke up. Jack felt his heart twist painfully in his chest as he brought his hand up and wrapped them around Gabriel’s neck to press his forehead to Gabriel’s.

“Yes, Gabe. I got you.”

Gabriel nuzzled his forehead slowly and affectionately against Jack’s, showing an outpouring amount of love he had for his mate. “I love you so much, Jack Morrison. You have no idea…” He murmured quietly in response.

“You show it far better than you think, Gabe.” Jack smiled weakly as he nuzzled the hetantan back with his own forehead.

“Your faith in me is remarkable. I don’t think I would ever tolerate starting a family with a mess like I am.”

“You call yourself a ‘mess’ but you clean up incredibly well, Gabriel.” Jack remarked as he brought his hand up to gently stroke the side of Gabriel’s face, drawing quiet purrs from his partner while he relaxed into the touch. “I’d like to think I’m a good judge of character.”

Gabriel snickered softly at that. “You can’t be a judge if you’re a cop- ow!” He laughed when Jack lightly knuckled him on the head in response.

“Come on, Gabe. I think Lynn wants to be held by her other father too.” Jack smiled, walking along side Gabriel back over to the bed where John still sat with little Lynn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all of the support and lovely reviews you guys have left in support of this fic! My space eggy story is now finished except for a possible epilogue if there's enough interest in such a thing! I'm glad you guys enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> I blame the discord for this fic and their obsession with the 'eggies'.
> 
> Please leave a review if you enjoy the fic to let me know what you think!


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